Tag Archives: Five Book Friday

Five Book Friday!

It’s good to be home, dear readers.  I have no idea what time it is, and I’m terribly, irrationally hungry, but it’s good to be back with the Books.

And what Books there are!  We are in the early stages of a new fiscal year here at the Library, which means that there will soon be new books aplenty coming in.  Best of all, we are the height of the summer reading season, which means no end of good things for those of you looking to take some books on your next vacation, beach retreat, or blanket fort hideaway.  Because fiction books are quite popular this time of year, this week’s FBF (5BF?) features an all-fiction selection, to let your imaginations have a little adventure, as well!

Five Books

3737340The Perdition ScoreIf my previous hysteria over the Library’s acquisition of Richard Kadrey’s Sandman Slim series hasn’t convinced you to jump on the paranormal noir bandwagon, I can only hope that the release of the eighth book in this grim, gory, delightful carnival of a series might just do the trick.  In this installment, Sandman Slim (aka James Stark) has returned from facing down Death, and is itching for some new messes to make, when he meets Thomas Abbot, the Augur of the Sub Rosa council, who needs his help searching for a missing boy.  The search leads to an angel, whose dying confession sends Stark and his girl/sidekick/kick-ass companion Candy to the only place they never wanted to return: Hell.  I wonder how much more I can say about this series without sounding like a weirdo groupie, so I’ll let Entertainment Weekly do it for me: “…Kadrey rips the skin off the real world, revealing the supernatural nerve endings and metaphysical meat underneath.  And his prose couldn’t be more visceral if it were carved into flesh.”

3757348Monsters: A Love Story It’s no secret that I am a huge lover of The Romances, but there’s a lot to be said for those romances that don’t follow genre standards, that defy tropes, and that challenge our expectations of characters–Liz Kay’s latest book is just that kind of romance.  Ever since her husband died eight months ago, poet Stacey Lane has been lost.  So when she is asked to consult on the film-adaptation of her re-imagining of Frankenstein, she thinks this might be her chance to break out and live again.  She never imagined that lead actor and worldwide heartthrob, Tommy DeMarco, would be quite so…attractive…and as Stacey shuffles between her predictable life in Omaha, and the kind of boozy fantasy life that Tommy offers, she begins to find new depths in herself…and in Tommy.  Kay’s wit is absolutely acerbic here, to the extent that some readers have a hard time connecting with her characters.  For those looking for something sharp, incisive, and blackly funny, however, this book may be just right for you.  Library Journal loved it, giving it a starred review, and saying, “this fast-paced novel will have readers immersed in the heady feeling of an alcohol-fueled affair with one of the sexiest men alive.”

3743637Ping-Pong Heart: Here is another book to make series fans cheer–the eleventh installment in Martin Limón’s historical(ish) mystery series featuring US Army CID Sergeants George Sueño and Ernie Bascom brings readers right back into the high-stakes world of espionage in 1970’s Korea.  In this adventure, Major Frederick M. Schulz has accused Miss Jo Kyong-ja, an Itaewon bar girl, of stealing twenty-five thousandin local currency from him.  It isn’t a huge amount, but when both Schulz and Jo are found dead, it’s clear there is far more to this story than meets the eye.  And it isn’t long before George and Ernie find that the Major was involved in some pretty high-level Cold War intelligence, making a simple theft into something that could have global consequences.  This is another book that Library Journal enjoyed, saying that new readers can jump right into this series here, and enthusing “Mystery readers who appreciate exotic settings, both in time and space, and who like quality buddy procedurals will admire Limón’s writing.”

3740617The Swan BookPart fairytale, part social commentary, part historical analysis, part futuristic fantasy, Alexis Wright’s novel takes Australia’s deeply troubled Aboriginal history head-on in this tale of discovery and loss, and the power of the human imagination.  Oblivia Ethelyne was given her name by a Bella Donna, an elderly woman who found her hiding in a gum tree, wounded and terrified after being attacked.   Bella Donna takes her to live on an old warship in a polluted dry swamp, a result of devastating climate change, and there, creates a new world for   Oblivia through her stories about swans.  In truth, the swamp is a kind of holding camp for Aboriginals (peoples native to Australia), and when Australia’s first Aboriginal president leads a march into the swap to bring the conditions there to light, Oblivia finds herself thrust into reality in a way she never before imagined.  Critics worldwide have been hailing Wright’s work as a triumph of Australian literature and narrative creativity, and Publisher’s Weekly cheers, “Rarely does an author have such control of her words and her story: Wright’s prose soars between the mythical and the colloquial.”

3740975Ink and Bone: For the record, this is one of my favorite titles of the month.  Behind that title, though, is a dark, twisting tale of paranormal powers and friendship that may be a bit of a divergence for Lisa Unger, but one she handles with skill.  Finley Montgomery is seldom alone, but rather than friends or family, she is haunted by faces no one else can see, and plagued by prophetic dreams that have her lurching awake and terrified.  When her powers grow too strong, Finley turns to the one women who she knows can help: her grandmother Eloise Montgomery, a noted medium, who has been hired to solve the disappearance of a local girl.  Even as the bond between Finley and Eloise grows, however, it becomes more and more clear that a power larger than both of them is looming ever closer….Unger is a master of suspense, and this new release has critics raving, with Booklist calling it, “Engrossing. . . the tension is palpable. Unger straddles the fine line between thriller and horror, making this a very exciting and riveting read, sure to appeal to a wide range of readers, including Kay Hooper or Stephen King fans.”

 

Until next week, beloved Patrons–happy reading!

Five Book Friday!

Greetings, dear readers!  I hope you all have marvelous plans for the upcoming long weekend!

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Over here in damp London, it’s the 100th anniversary of the opening of the Battle of the Somme, one of the largest battles of the First World War, and the deadliest day in British military history.  In one day, the British Army, which included men from Ireland, Scotland, Wales, Australia, New Zealand, India, South Africa, and a number of other colonial sites, lost 60,000 men–20,000 of whom died, and 40,000 of whom sustained inJuries that took them out of the field.  Within British history, it’s a hugely significant day for a number of reasons.  Britain had no standing army, so a significant percentage of these men were volunteers who had signed up early in the war, thinking that the war would be short and decisive.  That first day on the Somme was heart-breaking proof that it would be neither, and it’s a heartbreak from which, culturally speaking, no one has fully recovered.

The picture above was taken at Paddington Station this morning.  I’ve no idea where these men are off to today…or whether they are ghosts, but they were a very poignant reminder that history is a lot closer than we think at times.  More on this later, I can assure you.

For now, though, how about we think about your long weekend across the waters, and all the neat books you can take with you to read!  Here are just a few that crawled up onto our shelves this week, and are very eager to make an appearance at your holiday festivities!

Five Books

3757342A Gift for GuileAlissa Johnson is carving quite a name for herself in the world of historical romance, creating vibrant, unexpectedly complex, and wholly original characters who fill the gaslight, fog-bound streets of Victorian London.  The second book in her Thief-Taker Series features Esther, a brilliant and supremely clever con artist, who is on a journey to make amends, and refuses to let anything stand in her way–not even the implacable and obnoxiously handsome private detective Samuel Brass.  But Samuel has decided, against all his better judgement, to ensure Esther’s safety, even if it costs him his own heart in the process.  Johnson’s writing is infectiously inviting, and I love the quirks that she builds into each of her characters (Samuel’s dog one one of my favorite surprises in this book).  Of this book, RT Book Reviews had nothing but praise, saying “Johnson draws readers into an intriguing mystery romance as disparate characters join forces to combat the demons of their pasts. The quick pace, sexual tension, touch of poignancy and the well-drawn backdrop seamlessly merge, allowing her characters and their conflict to take center stage.”

3758707Liberty or Death: The French Revolution: It seems a fitting weekend to talk of revolution, particularly one so intimately tied to the history of the American Revolution.  In this new release, Peter McPhee, emeritus professor of the University of Melbourne, puts the French Revolution in a global context, seeing it not only as an events within France, but as part of an age of revolutions and uprisings, and looks outside of Paris, as well, to see how the revolution changed the lives of peasants, farmers, and others whose lives were irrevocably changed as a result of it.  Having spent his career studying the history of France, Professor McPhee’s love for his subject is evident, as is his ability to tell a very human and moving story.  Library Journal agrees, calling this book “Articulate and perceptive . . . Numerous histories of the French Revolution exist; while many are good, none is so current on the literature and lucidly presented as this. Scholars and history lovers will rejoice.”

3719037The Bones of GraceMuch beloved and highly acclaimed author Tahmima Anam is back with a new book about love, loss, and the choices we make that define us.  Zubaida Haque is preparing for a journey to find the missing link to human evolution when she meets, and falls in love with American Elijah Strong.  Even though they both feel made for each other, fate has other plans, and Zubaida soon finds herself back with her family in Bangladesh, married to a man of whom her parents approve.  But Zubaida is still seeking answers, and as she throws herself into work on a documentary about beached ships, she begins to realize that she alone can rebuild the life she thought lost.  This is a book where the settings are like supporting characters, transporting readers to the troubled, yet somehow beautiful world of Bangladesh, as well as deep into its heroines heart.  The New Yorker loved Anan’s book, saying that her “fluent prose and sharp insights are at their best when the narrative strays . . . into the surreal ways in which faith and love work–and sometimes fail.”

3717404The Mandibles: A Family, 2029-2047Despite it’s futuristic setting, this book adamantly states that it is not science fiction.  Instead, Lionel Shriver has given us a story about money, about society, and about human nature that is as realistic as it is surreal.  Set in 2029, as the populations of each switch to a new global currency, the President of the US declares that America will default on its debts, and print its own money to survive.  With the dollar plummeting, the Mandibles see the inheritance they has planned to receive die in the whirlpool of inflation, changing their lives in unimaginable, and yet all too believable ways.  While the outlook sounds bleak, Lionel Shriver unique sense of humor flashes through these pages, offering surprisingly timely remarks even she writes a tale of future disaster.  Booklist hailed this release as “a sharp, smart, snarky satire of every conspiracy theory and hot button political issue ever spun; one that, at first glance, might induce an absurdist chuckle, until one realizes that it is based on an all-too-plausible reality.”

3717708We Were Kings: Readers who enjoyed last year’s Serpents in the Cold, featuring the tragically human and wonderfully empathetic detective duo of Cal and Dante, prepare to return to the streets of Boston, circa 1950, and join our troubled but determined detectives on the hunt for an IRA man who is out for blood, and all the guns that Irish American immigrants will offer.  Thomas O’Malley and Douglas Graham Purdy revel in the scenic details of their world, bringing Boston of a generation ago alive in all its tarnished, seedy, and secretive glory, and confronts Boston’s very troubled legacy with the IRA head on, in a book that had the good folks at WBUR hailing, “In the best noir tradition, these co-authors shine a smoky light on lives often lived in the shadows.”

Until next week, beloved patrons–happy reading!

Five Book Friday!

And a very happy birthday to Russian composer Igor Stravinsky!

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Stravinsky was born on this date in 1882 in a suburb of St. Petersburg, then the capital of Imperial Russia.  Though he showed musical promise from an early age, his parents sent him to law school…where he attended approximately fifty classes in four years.  Though he managed to get a “half degree” in law, he had already begun taking private lessons from his mentor, Rimsky-Korsakov, and was very soon on his way to becoming famous.  He became an overnight sensation with the performance of The Firebird in 1910.

Nijinsky Photographs and PhotographersStravinsky, his wife and family were staying in Switzerland, as they did most summers, when the First World War began, forcing them to remain far, far from home. Though finances were tight during this period, Stravinsky eventually found work with Sergei Diaghilev Ballet Russe, one of the most famous, avant-garde ballet companies of the 20th century (see him pictured with star Nijinsky at left).  Stravinsky wrote the music for the ballet Rite of Spring, which, I kid you not, led to a riot in the Paris theater where it was first performed.  Though no details exist about the specific choreography, the Joffrey Ballet spent seven years recreating the performance, tracking down costumes around the globe, locating the last surviving witnesses of that performance, and compiling newspaper reports, diaries, notes, and sketches from an incredible array of archives in order to make the most accurate re-creation possible.  Here is a clip from that performance, which debuted in 1989:

So today, feel free to be a little revolutionary–a little ahead of your time–and check out some of our great recordings of Stravinsky’s immortal (and still rather shocking) works–along with some of these books that made their way onto the shelves this week!

Five Books

3726198Homegoing: Yaa Gyasi’s first novel has been getting quite a bit of attention, and has been making its presence known on a number of “Best Of” lists–and for good reason.  Her story is at once a sweeping epic that covers three hundred years of history, and also a deeply personal story of families and belonging, crossing genres and boundaries with effortless grace.  At the heart of this tale are two half-sisters, Effia and Esi, growing up in separate world at the close of the 18th century in the land that would come to be known as Ghana.  While Effia is married off to an Englishman, and enjoys the privileges and comforts that such a life includes, Esi is imprisoned in the dungeon beneath the caste, and shipped to America as part of the phenomenally lucrative trade in human beings.  The novel follows both women, and their descendants, across time, as they navigate life in the United States and in Ghana, creating a tale that The New York Times Book Review  called, “hypnotic…the great, aching gift of the novel is that it offers, in its own way, the very thing that enslavement denied its descendants: the possibility of imagining the connection between the broken threads of their origins.”

3760386Duke of Sin: Elizabeth Hoyt is a genius at historical romances, and any new book from her is always cause for celebration.  In this story, Valentine Napier, the Duke of Montgomery, is, quite literally, the stuff of society’s nightmares.  He lives above the rules, blackmailing and carousing without scruples.  But when Valentine encounters a women hiding out in his bedroom, he soon realizes that he’s met his match.  Bridget Crumb is determined to discover all of Valentine’s secrets in order to save her mother from extortion, even if it means hiding in Valentine’s house as a housekeeper.  But the longer she spends in his company, the harder it is to remember that Bridget has to keep her distance from the man who holds her fate in his conniving hands.  Hoyt outdoes herself in developing her characters in this book, and even though many of Valentine’s and Bridget’s choices are challenging, it only makes their relationship that much more gripping, producing a story that RT Book Reviews raves “delivers a unique read on many levels: a love story, a tale of redemption and a plot teeming with emotional depth that takes readers’ breaths away. Kudos to a master storyteller!”

3707667End of Watch: If you’re anything like me, and have been waiting for Stephen King’s blockbuster Bill Hodges trilogy to be released in its entirety before reading it–rejoice!  For our long wait is over!  This book closes out the story that began with Mr. Mercedes, and has followed Bill Hodges’ quest to destroy Brady Hartsfield, perpetrator of the Mercedes Massacre.  Hartsfield is trapped in a Brain Injury Clinic, but even as his body deteriorates, his mind has come alive, filled with a dark new power that will send Hodges and his partner, Holly Gibney, on their darkest, most dangerous case yet.  King has evolved this series from a police procedural into something supernatural, showing off the full range of his talents, and giving fans yet another reason to sleep with the lights on.  Library Journal concurs–they gave this book a starred review, and cheered “One would assume that a writer like King, who has been at the top of his game for decades, would eventually run out of ideas. Instead, he serves up one of the most original crime thrillers to come along in years…A spectacular, pulse-pounding, read-in-one-sitting wrap-up that will more than satisfy King’s Constant Readers.”

3722316Joe Gould’s Teeth: Jill Lepore is not only a dedicated historian–she’s also a darned good story teller, and both of those gifts make this strange, odd sort of biography into a tragic, gripping, and utterly original study, not only of one man’s life, but of the journey it took to find him.  Joe Gould believed that he was the most brilliant historian of his generation, and was determined to write a history of real life by writing down every word that he overheard.  He was a friend to modernists like E.E. Cummings and Ezra Pound; he was associated with the Harlem Renaissance; he worked as a eugenicist on Native American reservations.  He was also, quite probably, insane.  For years, it has been assumed that his history was an invention of his troubled imagination, but Lepore was determined to look beyond those decades-old assumptions, and find the troubled man who created them.  As NPR noted in its glowing review, “Joe Gould’s Teeth is more than just a fascinating footnote to a beloved literary landmark. Using the tools of her trade, Lepore ended up broadening her search for his lost notebooks to encompass trenchant questions about journalism, race, and mental illness. The result has bite.”

3751385The Mistresses of Cliveden : Three Centuries of Scandal, Power, and Intrigue in an English Stately Home: Those of you mourning the end of Downton Abbey, this book, featuring a colossal English manor, and the secrets that hide behind its ivied walls, will go a long way to helping you through this difficult time.  The estate was originally built under the reign of Charles II for the Duke of Buckingham, who needed a place to carry on his affair with his mistress, Anna Maria, Countess of Shrewsbury.  That relationship led to a fatal duel, but also ensured Anna’s position at Clivenden would remain unchallenged, leading to a history that is replete with strong, fearless women who were willing to challenge society in order to carve a place for themselves in it.  Natalie Livingstone’s book places each of these women within the broader context of their time, but never loses sight of their remarkable strength and ingenuity, making for a story that the Evening Standard called, “Well-researched, well-written and narratively enthralling”.

 

And so, beloved patrons, until next week–happy reading!

Five Book Friday (with a side of Baileys)!

 

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http://www.womensprizeforfiction.co.uk/

Today, it’s with great pride that we announce that Lisa McInerney’s The Glorious Heresies has won the Baileys Women’s Prize for Fiction!

Though this book won’t be released in the US until August 9th, this book has already created quite a stir in McInerney’s native Ireland, as well around the UK.  It’s a tale of an accidental murder and the result that act has on the lives of its four protagonists, who include a 15-year-old drug dealer, his alcoholic father, a prostitute and a gangland boss.  The book is about as far away from the Disneyland Ireland that so many books depict, and probably much closer to the real underbelly of modern Irish society than many would like to admit, but for all that, it’s a wonderfully, darkly funny book that is wonderfully creative, and deeply courageous.

McInerney noted how often she was told her book sounded “male”.  As quoted by The Guardian, she replied to this, “I’m still not entirely sure why. Was it because it had a certain boisterousness, when women are best suited to gentle pursuits, like embroidery? Did it seem too sweary, when women’s voices are made for arias and whispered gossip?…In celebrating women’s writing, the Baileys prize does something great. It gives us a roadmap for a space where books by women writers exist as part of a sweeping, chaotic and beautiful literary landscape, where they are allowed to just be”.  And we can’t wait for McInerney’s book to be a part of our Library soon!

So, on that note, let’s see what other books have made their way onto our shelves this week, to help tide you over until The Glorious Heresies hits the US!

Five Books

3756622738 Days: New adult author Stacey Kade’s latest release is a harrowing and heartbreaking journey of loss–but also a deeply emotional tale of love and redemption that is getting a great deal of attention for its courage and creativity.  When she was sixteen, Amanda Grace was kidnapped and held in a basement by a sexual predator for two years.  Only the posted of heartthrob Chase Henry on the wall gave her something good and hopeful on which to focus until she was able to escape.  Six years later, Amanda is struggling to put her past behind her, while Chase Henry himself is trying to resurrect his career after six years of drugs, alcohol, and partying.  When his publicist arranges a meeting between Chase and Amanda, the results are disastrous, but the two manage to work out a deal for their mutual benefit.  But when a new danger rises up, will their fragile bond be enough to save them both?  Publisher’s Weekly gave this one a starred review, saying “The intense psychological drama of Amanda struggling to heal her broken spirit makes for riveting reading…Kade…drops just the right amount of humor into the mix of regret, shame, determination, and love….Readers will long remember the love story between these complex characters.”

3761964East West Street: What began as an academic’s search for his family roots has evolved into a powerful, insightful, and moving exploration of the history of the “war crime” and the concept of “crimes against humanity”, which were developed as a result of Nazi Germany’s policies against Jews and other victim groups, as well as the sacking and pillaging of countless families’ homes during the Second World War.  Through exhaustive research and a gift for storytelling, Philippe Sands tells the story of Raphael Lemkin and Hersch Lauterpacht (who developed the definition of “genocide”), and Hans Frank, Hitler’s personal lawyer, who stood in the dock at Nuremberg, being held to account for overseeing the death of some 1 million Jews from Galicia and Lemberg, among them, the families of the Sands’ grandfather’s family as well as those of Lemkin and Lauterpacht.  Though not always an easy read, Kirkus Reviews found this book an incredibly important one, calling it “An engrossing tale of family secrets and groundbreaking legal precedents . . . a tense, riveting melding of memoir and history . . . From letters, photographs, and deeply revealing interviews, the author portrays Nazi persecutions in shattering detail . . . Vastly important.”

3756072Freedom of the Mask: If you haven’t started reading Robert McCammon’s historical mystery/thriller series featuring the fascinatingly complex Matthew Corbett, official “problem solver”, then you really, really should think about starting it.  It’s a wonderfully engrossing series that touches on the darker, seedier, and generally less-explored sides of early American history.  In this sixth installment, Corbett has gone missing while on a mission for the Herrald Agency in Charles Town.  Little does anyone guess that Matthew has been arrested, and is being held in the notorious Newgate Prison for a murder without a body (alongside one Daniel DeFoe).  Though his friends are racing to his side, this case may be too big even for the great Matthew Corbett to solve.  Again Publisher’s Weekly fell in love with this book, declaring “McCammon’s intricate and intersecting subplots keep the story twisting unpredictably, and he adds menace to the mayhem with hellish descriptions of London straight out of a Hogarth engraving…Fans of the series will race through this hefty page-turner to see where Matthew’s latest adventure leads him.”

3741028 (1)The Lynching: The Epic Courtroom Battle That Brought Down the Klan: Lawrence Leamer’s new book focuses on the murder of Michael Donald, a young black man who was picked up by two members of the Ku Klux Klan in Mobile, Alabama in 1981.  Following the investigation into Donald’s horrible death, and the conviction of those responisble, Morris Dees, civil rights lawyer and cofounder of the Southern Poverty Law Center, filed a civil lawsuit against the members of the local Klan unit, charging them with fraud.  The resulting trial shook the Klan to its very core.  In this work, Leamer traces not only the trial itself, but also looks closely at the Klan, and its lingering affects on American history in a work that Kirkus Reviews calls “Powerful… engrossing… and a pertinent reminder of the consequences of organized hatred.”

3739491The Noise of Time: The genius and bravery of Soviet composer Dmitri Shostakovich has been getting a lot of attention lately.  Earlier this year, M.T. Anderson published a teen novel about his experiences during the Battle of Leningrad, and now acclaimed author Julian Barnes has given us this novel-in-miniature that focuses on Shostakovich beginning around the age of thirty, when he became a primary target of Stalin’s despotism.  Convinced that he is about to die, Shostakovich considers not only the weight of his own life, but those of his loved ones and family–and when a stroke of luck spares him, he must face the reality of a lifetime under Soviet control.  Barnes is a gifted and nuanced writer, and this study of art and the meaning of life is one that is wholly suited to his style.  NPR concurs, calling this work “As elegantly constructed as a concerto . . . another brilliant thought-provoker which explores the cost of compromise and how much confrontation and concession a man and his conscience can endure.”

Until next week, beloved patrons–happy reading!

Five Book Friday!

Happy Friday, Readers!  Today’s Random Fact of the Day comes to you courtesy of the delightfully quirky Melville House Press, whose website and twitter feed are among the most irreverant, informative, and, sometimes, bizarre in the publishing world.

A few days ago, the Melville House Press’ website addressed a growing trend in books that I have noticed when setting up displays, and several of our patrons have noticed as they select from our new books: why are they all so mind-warpingly yellow?

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My eyes!

 

A number of these lemony-hued books have made it into our posts in the past, from Sunil Yapa’s Your Heart is a Muscle the Size of Your Fist to Marlon James’ Booker Prize winning A Brief History of Seven Killings.  And even more are scheduled to come out soon.  So what is the deal?

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Courtesy of Melville House Press

Well, it turns out that some 45% of book buying is done via online retailers like That One Named After A South American Rainforest.  And on the pages of those sites, books appear against a white background.  As the Melville House Press notes, “As a result, a lot of the books there — those whose covers are plain white, or too simple, or too detailed — look pallid and boring. In the fight for our precious attention, in a venue where only limited engagement is possible, these books lose out.  In an attempt to solve this problem, publishers have been clothing more and ever more of their books in retina-cracking yellow.”  They also quote Wall Street Journal journalist Lucy Feldman, who wrote, in an article on the art of the visual, “Yellow jumps off online pages and it can support both dark and bright type and graphics. Also, it carries no gender association and can signify anything from sunshine and optimism to a danger warning, making it a strong choice for a variety of genres and topics.”

So there is your factoid of the day, dear readers, and here are some new books (only some of which are yellow), that have made it on to our shelves this week!

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3708591The City of Mirrors: Yellow book alert!  Justin Cronin’s enormous, post-apocalyptic trilogy has been hailed from its first appearance as a vampire series for adults, and, quite possibly, as a modern classic of American literature.  Now the trilogy is drawing to a close with this final installment.  The Twelve have been destroyed, and the survivors of  their century-long reign of terror are beginning to emerge.  But within the ruins lurks Zero, the father of the Twelve, dreaming of destroying Amy, who is being held up as humanity’s greatest and only hope for the future, biding time until their final confrontation.  For readers who have been waiting for this trilogy to spin out before beginning, the wait is finally over, and, as Library Journal notes in their starred review, “Readers who have been patiently awaiting the conclusion to Cronin’s sweeping postapocalyptic trilogy are richly rewarded with this epic, heart-wrenching novel. . . . Not only does this title bring the series to a thrilling and satisfying conclusion, but it also exhibits Cronin’s moving exploration of love as both a destructive force and an elemental need, elevating this work among its dystopian peers.”

3736123Iris and RubyThis reprint of Rosie Thomas’ 2006 novel deals with family bonds and the stories we tell each other, that is bound to appeal to the armchair traveler.  When her impulsive teenage granddaughter Ruby comes crashing into 82-year-old Iris’ life, Iris is forced to confront not only her family’s difficult relationships, but also her own memories, which Ruby is eager to hear.  Together, Iris and Ruby explore Iris’ memories of Cairo during World War Two, and the love affair that defined her life.  It is this story that will shape Iris’ life, and have profound consequences for the women of her family, as well.  There is love and tragedy aplenty in this tale, but also plenty of danger, adventure, and intrigue, as well, giving The Times cause to rave, “Thomas can write with ravishing sensuality.”

3756407New England Bound: Traditional history of the American colonies teaches that the Triangle Trade, which brought slaves to North American, helped the south prosper as a plantation economy.  But Wendy Warren’s new, thoroughly researched work, reconceptualizes that history, showign how the northern colonies also grew rich on the ships that were coming and going from their harbors, bearing hundreds of thousands of enslaved Africans in their holds.  She also adds to the growing body of knowledge about how other peoples, including Native Americans and West Indies peoples were enslaved by the Atlantic Slave Trade, as well, showing just how pernicious and all-consuming this practice truly was, and how deep into American culture its roots spread.  Review for Warrens’ work have been glowing, including this one from noted historian Linda Colley, who called it “A beautifully written, humane and finely researched work that makes clear how closely intermingled varieties of slavery and New England colonization were from the very start. With great skill, Warren does full justice to the ideas of the individuals involved, as well as to the political and economic imperatives that drove some, and that trapped and gravely damaged others.”

3708615Smoke:  Dan Vyleta’s gaslamp fantasy has been getting a great deal fo attention lately, and, while the cover isn’t yellow, has been catching quite a number of eyes at the Library.  Set in an alternative London of a century ago, Vyleta has created a world where those who are wicked or sinful are marked by smoke pouring from their bodies–that is, that’s how it is supposed to work.  But in an elite boarding school, three students begin to realize that there are those who can lie without causing smoke to envelope them…and the implications of that discovery could cost them their lives.  Part thriller, part magical realism, part social commentary, and part Dickensian romp, this book seems to have a little something for everyone, and has Publisher’s Weekly raving that it is “A fiercely inventive novel . . . Vyleta’s bold concept and compelling blend of history and fantasy offer a provocative reflection on the nature of evil, power, believe, and love. Dickensian in its imaginative scope and atmosphere.”

3738473Shrill: Lindy West is an essayist, a humorist, a feminist…in addition to being many other things, and this book of essays brings all her considerable talents to bear as she tackles what it means to be human, to be a woman, to be large, to be loud, in a society that seldom values any of these qualities separately, let alone together.  This is a book that is at once laugh-out-loud-in-an-inappropriate-manner funny, and also a deeply searching analysis of how we see, and how we treat, those around us who don’t conform to the odd and unliveable rules that society has set for us.  This book has been a hit with critics and readers alike, with Booklist cheering it as “Uproariously funny…Despite its serious subject, West’s ribald jokes, hilarious tirades, and raucous confessions keep her memoir skipping merrily along as she jumps from painful confession to powerful epiphany. Sure to be a boon for anyone who has struggled with body image, Shrill is a triumphant, exacting, absorbing memoir that will lay new groundwork for the way we talk about the taboo of being too large.”

 

Until next week, beloved patrons–happy reading!

Five Book Friday!

And today, dear patrons, we come to you with some good news to start your weekend off right!  Our Assistant Director, Gerri Guyote, is one of the recipients of the 2016 Mass Literacy Champions Award!  We are as pleased as punch that Gerri is getting recognized for all her hard work, infinite patience, and dedication to literacy programs, and are so thrillled to congratulate her on this significant achievment!  Here is the official photo taken of all the winners:

L-R: Dennis Quinn, Yamaris Rivera, Pesha Black, Gerri Guyote, Sharon Shaloo and Jeantilus Gedeus. Boston Herald Staff Photo by Chitose Suzuki. - See more at: http://www.massliteracy.org/literacy-champions/#sthash.8KPohjY5.dpuf
L-R: Dennis Quinn, Yamaris Rivera, Pesha Black, Gerri Guyote, Sharon Shaloo and Jeantilus Gedeus. Boston Herald Staff Photo by Chitose Suzuki. – See more at: http://www.massliteracy.org/literacy-champions/#sthash.8KPohjY5.dpuf

As described on their own blog, “The Mass Literacy Champions Awards Program enables literacy providers in Massachusetts to share their most promising practices with their peers and serve as ambassadors for Mass Literacy. The program was created in 2002 by Mass Literacy to identify, publicly recognize and reward Massachusetts educators who have shown exceptional commitment and results through their work in literacy education. 76 Mass Literacy Champions have been recognized since 2003, and together they represent the diverse literacy community that makes Massachusetts a national leader in education.”

Each Mass Literacy Champion will receive a $1000 grant for program development, a professionally produced video to promote the work of their organization valued at $1000, and they will serve as a Mass Literacy Adviser. They will each complete an innovative literacy project that will be shared with the statewide literacy community.  YAY!!

And speaking of books, and reading, and long weekends (not that we were, but we certainly are now), let take a look at some of the new books that have climbed up onto our shlves this week, that can’t wait to meet you:

Five Books

3740333Grunt: Mary Roach has made a career out of telling us all about things we never knew we never knew about human bodies, from our own alimentary canals and digestion processes to the secrets of human cadavers, to how the human body can survive in outer space.  This latest book tackles the science of warfare, and how soldiers are kept fed, awake, sane, and cool in some of the most difficult of conditions.  In so doing, she brings to light just how extensive the military complex is–involving fashion designers and movie studios in addition to army bases and foreign clinics.  The result is a book that is illuminating on many levels, surprisingly funny, and genuinely engrossing, that had Booklist referring to Roach as, “A rare literary bird, a best selling science writer…Roach avidly and impishly infiltrates the world of military science….Roach is exuberantly and imaginatively informative and irreverently funny, but she is also in awe of the accomplished and committed military people she meets.”

3743229Hard Light: Remember how we were talking about noir fiction, and how there were so few women who were portrayed as actual human beings in their stories?  Well, ask, and ye shall receive…In this third novel featuring the foul-mouthed, hard-living, occasionally criminal, punk photographer, and utterly wonderful noir antiheroine Cass Neary, who is on the run from cult murderers in Iceland, and has arrived in London to find her long-estranged lover, Quinn.  But Quinn is gone, and before long, Cass finds herseld caught up in the world of eccentric gansters and drug-smugglers that takes her to the wilds of Land’s End, were a fascinating archeological discovery could change the course of human history…if Cass can survive long enough to expose it.   Cara Hoffman provided a sensational blurb for this book, describing Elizabeth Hand’s work as “Brutal, elegant, rich and strange, Hard Light is noir at it’s very best. This fast paced marvel of a book beats with the exultant energy of Punk rock and hums with the mysterious beauty of a Delphic hymn. Elizabeth Hand is not only one of the great American novelists, her influence on a generation has changed the face of Literature. This novel will haunt your dreams.”

3709655The Doll Master and Other Tales of Horror: It’s summer time, and that means that I am on the hunt for books that will keep me up late at night…and this book looks like the perfect place to start.  Joyce Carol Oates is a marvel at creating stories that are as real and as recognizable as our own lives–and them subtley twisting just one or two threads of that story in order to make it something horrifying.  These stories range in setting from the house down the road to the Galapagos Islands, dealing with intruders and secret collections, and are sure to give you goosebumps, even as the temperature outside rises.  Publisher’s Weekly found it downright chilling, remarking that “Oates convincingly demonstrates her mastery of the macabre with this superlative story collection . . . This devil’s half-dozen of dread and suspense is a must read.”

3708737Barren Cove: Ariel S. Winter’s newest novel is about humanity and love and loss, and all those wonderfully human emotions, as seen through the eyes of an antiquated and lonely android named Sapien.  Hoping to find a little comfort for himself, Sapien goes to live in a Victorian manor at Barren Cove–but instead finds himself increasingly fascinated by the family who is also living there, including Beechstone, an enigmatic man who may just have the answers that Sapien has sought for so long.  But there is danger on Barren Cove, as well, and as Sapien beings a quest for understanding, he will also come face to face with the darkness inside his new companions, and in himself, as well.  Fans of Emily Bronte, as well as science fiction fans are going to find a lot to like in this story that, according to Kirkus Reviews “Weaves a uniquely dreamy spell, and a lingering one. Lyrical, unexpected, and curiously affecting…a story that lodges uneasily in the heart and mind.”

3755654The Dragon Behind the Glass: The Asian arowana or “dragon fish”, a holdover from the prehistoric age, and a symbol of good fortune and prsperity, is the world’s most expensive aquarium fish.  Though they are bred in secure farms in Southeast Asia, they have also been declared an endangered species in the United States, creating an even higher demand for this bizarre commodity, and establishing a thriving black market that Emily Voigt penetrates in her engrossing new book.  Her journey takes her from some of the last uncharted wildernesses on this planet to the South Bronx, where arowana fish are sold for astromonical prices, even as scientists declare that fresh water fish are some of the most rapidly declining species around.  This is a story about environmentalism, greed, and about fish, that Publisher’s Weekly devoured, calling it an “engaging tale of obsession and perserverance, jouranlist Voigt chronicles her effort to study and understand its appeal. . . . Voigt’s passion in pursuing her subject is infectious, as is the self-deprecating humor she injects into her enthralling look at the intersection of science, commercialism, and conservationism.”

 

So, until next week, beloved patrons, happy reading!

Five Book Friday!

P3220305

 

So, since we’re winding down National Poetry Month, and the sun is finally (finally!) out this morning, I thought it would be nice to share a  favorite poem about spring (that doesn’t begin “April is the cruelest month”.  Even though it is.)

A quick confession: Growing up, I wasn’t a poetry person.  I don’t think I’m was a metrophobe…but I also didn’t inherently get poetry in the same way I got prose.  Until tenth grade, when I met Keats and Wordsworth.  And then, it was like someone flipped a switch in my little 16-year-old brain and something made sense.  For that reason, both poets are very near and dear to my heart.  Keat’s season was autumn, but Wordsworth taught me to love spring, even in its allergy-inducing haze.  So I thought we could bid adieu, on this lovely spring day, to National Poetry Month with a little Wordsworth, and his daffodils:

Daffodils

I wandered lonely as a Cloud
That floats on high o’er vales and Hills,
When all at once I saw a crowd,
A host, of golden Daffodils;
Beside the Lake, beneath the trees,
Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.

Continuous as the stars that shine
And twinkle on the milky way,
They stretched in never-ending line
Along the margin of a bay:
Ten thousand saw I at a glance,
Tossing their heads in sprightly dance.

The waves beside them danced; but they
Out-did the sparkling waves in glee:-
A Poet could not but be gay
In such a jocund company:
I gazed—and gazed—but little thought
What wealth the show to me had brought:

For oft when on my couch I lie
In vacant or in pensive mood,
They flash upon that inward eye
Which is the bliss of solitude,
And then my heart with pleasure fills,
And dances with the Daffodils.

Published in Collected Poems, 1815

And now…on to the books!

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3733534Gold of Our Fathers: Fans of Alexander McCall Smith’s The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency series will find a great deal to love in Kwei Quartey’s mysteries featuring Darko Dawson, the newly promoted Chief Inspector in the Ghana police service.  This is Dawson’s fourth outing, and while his new title carries some great perks, it also means that Dawson is being transferred from Accra, Ghana’s capital, to Obuasi in the Ashanti region, a place that has become notorious for its exploitative goldmines.  He finds the office there is utter shambles, but before he can begin setting things to rights, Dawson is called on to solve the murder of a Chinese mine owner who was unearthed from his own quarry.  The case brings Dawson face to face with the corruption that has devastated Obuasi, and the greed that keeps it running, in an adventure that is keeping readers and critics alike fascinated, including Publisher’s Weekly, who gave this book a starred review, and called it “Exceptional . . . Fans of mysteries that offer a window into another culture will be more than satisfied.”

3741713The People in the Castle: Selected Strange Stories: By the time of her death in 2004, Joan Aiken had written over 100 books, and was a deeply respected writer for Vogue, Good Housekeeping, and Vanity Fair, to name a few.  Now, some of her creepiest, most imaginative, previously unpublished tales have been collected into a single volume for you to explore.  These tales, on the surface, harken back to some classic tropes of the horror and gothic genres…bumps in the night, a whispered voice in the dark…but Aiken brought her own flare to everything she wrote, and these stories are all better for it.  There is also plenty of heart and humor here, as well, along with an introduction from Aiken’s daughter, Lizzie.  The California Literary Review wrote a glowing review of this book, saying “”Aiken’s pastoral meadows and circus chaos, gothic grotesques and quirky romances . . . have a dream-like quality executed with a brevity and wit that is a testament to her skill as a story-teller.”

3719213The Invisible Guardian: Dolores Redondo’s eerie mystery has already become a best-seller in Spain, and was nominated for a whole slew of literary awards (including being shortlisted for the 2015 Crime Writer’s Association Dagger Award), so it’s arrival on our shelves is quite exciting for mystery buffs.  At the heart of this psychological thriller is homicide inspector Amaia Salazar, who is called back to the hometown she has always hated in order to solve the murder of a teenaged girl.  Amaia’s past is a place full of secrets and nightmares, and being back in the place where it all began is more trying than she could have imagined…particularly as the community’s ancient pagan practices threaten to upend her investigation, and disrupt her very sanity, as she tries to determine whether the crime is really the work of a ritualistic killer, or the mythical Basajaun, the Invisible Guardian.  Library Journal loved this book, giving it a starred review and saying, ““The Basque backdrop gives this thriller an especially intriguing layer of depth; the superstitions and mythologies passed down from the days of Spanish Inquisition penetrate the mystery to such an extent that the reader is easily transported.”

3711275The Last Goodnight: a World War II Story of Espionage, Adventure, and Betrayal: Fans of Erik Larson should keep an eye on Harold Bloom’s work…like Larson, he loves telling historical narratives, and delights in digging up the stories you haven’t heard about some of the world’s most well known events.  This time, he focuses on Bettie Pack, whose real-life career with MI-6 and OSS was full of a kind of daring and danger that would make James Bond pale.  Though it seems few people can get past Pack’s good looks, Bloom does a very good job getting at the woman behind the façade, as much as one can from incomplete historical records, and showing not only how Pack’s work was instrumental in the Allied victory in World War II (she obtained the notebooks that gave Alan Turing the key to the Enigma), but also the toll that spywork took on her in later years.  The result is a well-rounded, and well-grounded, portrait of which Publisher’s Weekly says, “Taking advantage of access to newly declassified material… Blum successfully delineates the social forces in play at the time and conveys the irresistible magnetism that turned a young woman into a world-class spy.”

3738778TartsFrom award-winning French chefs Frederic Anton and Christelle Brua comes over one hundred recipes for sweet and savory tarts, with directions on how to get the perfect crust, where to find the perfect ingredients…I am so hungry right now….

 

 

Until next week, beloved patrons…Happy Reading!