Patiently Waiting

I have been patiently waiting for Chevy Stevens' newest book Never Knowing, slated for a July release.  Ok.  You got me.  I have not been patient at all, but have been pacing around and constantly checking the calendar to make sure it isn't July.  Stevens' debut, Still Missing, was one of my favorite books of 2010.  It's a story of a woman who survives being abducted and eventually escapes.  But the focal point of the story are the discussions she has with her therapist after the escape.  They show that, despite no longer being held captive, she is still forced to relive the memories each day.  It's a powerful book and the comparisons to Emma Donoghue's Room make perfect sense.

I decided to check out some similar authors to get ready for the release of Never Knowing.  There are definitely some gems to be found within this genre.  The first I checked out was The Murderer's Daughters by Randy Susan Meyers.  The two sisters, Lulu and Merry, witness a terrible crime committed by their father who is subsquently sent to prison.  The story follows the sisters over a thirty year period.  How each one deals with the cards they were dealt is very intriguing as they deal with things in the opposite way than you would expect (I don't want to give too much away).  Each sister narrates different chapters and the reader can identify with both in different ways.

The End of Everything by Megan Abbott is another recommended title.  I was lucky enough to get an advanced copy of this one and read it in one sitting.   This is another tale of a teenage girl, Evie, being abducted in a suburban neighborhood.  Her best friend, Lizzie, narrates the tale and we see how she deals with not knowing what happened to her best friend and how she helps the Evie's family.  Throughout the story, I had the same feeling I had while reading Room.  As the tension builds, we soon find out that all may not be as it appears.

Finally, I checked out What the Dead Know by Laura Lippman.  In 1975, two sisters were taken from a mall outside Baltimore.  The case is never solved and no real leads ever materialize.  Fast forward to the present when a distraught motorist gets into an accident and attempts to flee the scene.  She is taken to the hospital where she quickly claims to be one of the sisters who have been missing for thirty years.  The police begin working to find out a) if she is who she says she is, and b) what happened thirty years ago?

What classics do you love?

Too often, I get very caught up with books that are new.  In many ways, this is a good thing.  As a librarian, it's important for me to be up-to-date with current publiciations (oh, how I love having a job that gives me an excuse to read a lot!).  Still, in my quest to keep up with what's new, it's easy to overlook what's old, but great.  This month, though, one of the lovely members of my book club brought me back by selecting her favorite book of all-time,  A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, Betty Smith's 1943 classic about 11-year-old Francie Nolan, for us to read.  It had been years since I had last read this book and, while I remembered in a vague, hazy way that I had liked it, what I had forgotten was the beauty of the story.  I had forgotten how much I loved Francie and how much I wanted to protect her.  Or maybe, since I was probably 14 the last time I read it, I didn't have the emotional reaction to the book then that I did now.  Either way, it was a delight to re-read this book with a fresh eye.  I loved the sweet sadness of Francie's love for her father, at the age when she and her brother still, "didn't know that they were supposed to be ashamed of him."  I realize I'm getting a bit sentimental about this book, but it was really lovely to re-read this classic and be reintroduced to the aspects that made it classic.

Over the past few days, this has inspired me to talk with others about the joys of some of our favorite books, and have found that most titles and authors mentioned aren't new releases, but classics.  A Wrinkle in Time, Kate Chopin's works, The Secret Garden, Anne of Green Gables, Jane Austen, and other classics have all come up in conversation.  It raises the question, "What makes a classic?"  Surely, there are books that have come out in the past few years that will be considered classics at some point.  So, my questions for you are, "What is your favorite 'classic' book?" and are there any books that have come out in the past few years that you think will become a classic?

Amazing Epic Fantasy Novels

Do you like epic novels? If you do, check out these three new titles from well-known authors Kelley Armstrong, Orson Scott Card and Brandon Sanderson.

Card's new novel, Lost Gate has a Harry Potter similarity. The exception is that Danny North comes from an ancient line of magical families (the gods) and has a very powerful mother and father. They left him in the care of his extended family. Unfortunately for him, he shows no sign of having any magical talent. This makes him 'less' by the family's standards and he is treated as little better than a servant. When his talent is revealed he can't tell anyone because to have this specific form of lost magic, means he must die. This is an enticing urban fantasy that will keep you entranced.

Armstrong's new novel, The Gathering is fantastic.  She weaves a story about Maya a young teen, who is raised in a small eccentric town.  An action packed adventure story that will keep you wondering what will happen next. An excellent start to a great epic fantasty adventure. I can't wait to learn what happens next.

Warbreaker by Brandon Sanderson is in a word, excellent.  Sanderson creates a new world complete with magic and myths of its own. His characters are amazing and the world so detailed it brings the story to life. There are two kingdoms. One is run by the God King and the other is a monarchy.  The monarchy's eldest princess is to marry the God King and bring peace to the realm.  As in all good epic novels, this doesn't happen quite the way it should. No, it just is not that simple. There's a controversial political struggle, riots, and a serious who done it plot.  The plot twists and turns will keep you on the edge of your seat.  If you haven't thought to read it and you liked Lord of the Rings or The Druid of Shannara give this story a try. There is so much more that can be done with these wonderfully vivid characters that I hope Brandon will  create a series or even a trilogy to tell us more of this new world and her people. This is one of the most brilliant epic novels I have read in a long time.

Free Money Sense Workshops and Money Management Information!

WCPL is currently offering FREE workshops designed to assist you in your financial decision making!  Join us on June 23rd from 2:00-3:00 PM at the Centerville Library for "Money Sense: Managing Your Money" and again on June 29th from 10:00-11:00 AM at the Hithergreen Center for "Money Sense: Hot Consumer Topics." 

But that's not all!  Check out some of the newest investment and money management titles available at the library.  Here is just a sample of our newest titles:

A Random Walk Down Wall Street: The Time-Tested Strategy for Successful Investing by Burton Malkiel
How to Make Money in Alternative Investments by Hubert Bromma
How to Invest $50-$5,000: The Small Investor's Step-By-Step Plan for Low-Risk Investing in Today's Economy by Nancy Dunnan
Dfree: Breaking Free from Financial Slavery by DeForest B. Soaries
The 10 Commandments of Money: Survive and Thrive in the New Economy by Liz Weston
Zombie Economics: A Guide to Personal Finance by Lisa Desjardins

Lifecycle Investing: A New, Safe, and Audacious Way to Improve the Performance of Your Retirement Portfolio by Ian Ayres





Go to this site for more information on the Money Sense workshops.

And now, for something completely different...

I'm pretty much a fiction girl.  Oh, sure, there's the occasional non-fiction title that grabs my interest (especially if it's about fiction like the brilliant The Polysyllabic Spree set by Nick Hornby) but I generally like to live in the land of make-believe.  Lately, though, there's been a train of non-fiction going through my trusty library basket at home and I've been hooked on reading about what really was.  It started with Operation Mincemeat: How a Dead Man and a Bizarre Plan Fooled the Nazis and Assured an Allied Victory by Ben Macintyre.  Think Weekend at Bernies meets James Bond in an effort to win World War II.  (Especially James Bond, since Ian Fleming was involved with this operation, as were the men who were the inspiration for M and Q.  And especially Weekend at Bernies because it involved...you know, pretending a dead body wasn't really dead.)  This book put me in a bit of spy mode, so I moved on to The Company We Keep: A Husband-And-Wife-True-Life Spy Story.  The stories of life as CIA operatives were really interesting, especially since Robert Baer, the husband in this team, is the inspiration for George Clooney's character in Syriana. 

 Then came Less Than Human: Why We Demean, Enslave, and Exterminate Others by David Livingstone Smith.  I'll warn you (although you might've guessed from the title), it's a bit heavy, by which I mean reviews use words like "brutal" and "grim."  Still, it offers a really interesting argument about the importance of the way we think of others in how we allow ourselves to treat them.  And, speaking of how we think of things, after these three books, I really needed a mental break. 

With perfect timing, Mary Kay Andrews' new book, Summer Rental, arrived on the hold shelf for me.  And I believe I'll stay squarely in the world of fiction for a while.

New Authors Turn up the Heat!

It's summer.  At least it feels like summer with the 90 degree temperatures.  Here are a few authors who blazed to the top of the charts with their first novel.  Some though written years ago continue to be best sellers.

This list would be incomplete without Kathyrn Stockett's The Help. A superb story of troubled times in American History. The characters are believable, you fear for them, hope for them and long for their lives to change.  Stockett creates a truly incredible story that will keep you transfixed and reading until its conclusion.

The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini  is a novel that leads you to understand how a country in turmoil impacts all those who live there. It's a story of two boys from different background who grow up together.

The Gargoyle by Andrew Davidson
When the unnamed narrator's world goes up in flames, he spends months recovering in a burn unit. He then meets Marianne Engel, a sculptor who claims they first met in medieval Germany. An incredible story that will hold you captive. 

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee is a classic it was published in 1960 and won the Pulitzer Prize.  An excellent novel about a white man in depression era Alabama who defends the black man charged with the rape of a white girl. 

Find more captivating novels here there is sure to be one that will turn up the heat!  Just sit down under a shade tree. Grab a nice cold lemonade and read a great book!

Summer of Super Heroes

I have always loved comic books and my favorite superhero was Daredevil and not the Ben Affleck version either.  How could I not admire a blind man in bright, red spandex who could defeat evil and look good too? How many people do you know that can carry spandex?
This is the summer for super hero movies and the library's Summer of Heroes summer reading club is now open so sign up.
At the box office Thor and X-Men First-Class have already come out.  Green Lantern comes out June 17th and Captain America: The First Avenger comes out June 22nd.  Finally, on August 19th Conan the Barbarian will be released.  I know Conan is not "technically" a superhero but he is a warrior and heroic so I included him too.

Try one of the following books and graphic novels and get reacquainted with your inner super hero.

Thor

X-Men

Green Lantern

Captain America

Conan the Barbarian

Kung-Fu Panda (Pandas are super too)

When I toss aside my glasses, let down my hair and ditch the comfortable shoes I become the Dewey Decimater!  So keep those voices down, sign up, and read!  You'll feel super!

In the Queue

 Iron House by John Hart

Two orphaned brothers are separated at an early age.  When accused of murder, one flees to New York and enters the world of organized crime. Years later he returns to North Carolina and to his brother to solve the mystery of their past.

Burnt Mountain by Anne Rivers Siddons

Thayer Wentworth loved summer camp. It was there she met and fell in love with Nick Abrams—her first love and her first heartbreak. Years later and married to someone else, Thayer confronts dark secrets about her mother, Nick, and her husband.

A World on Fire: Britain's Crucial Role in the American Civil War by Amanda Foreman

Through their diaries and letters, this is a first-hand account of the role that approximately 50,000 British
citizens played in the American Civil War.

Jailed Iranian Author Wins "Freedom to Write" Award



Nasrin Sotoudeh

 I received a newsletter from PEN American Center recently and it told of another author being jailed for speaking their mind.  Nasrin Sotoudeh, a 47-year-old mother of two, is a journalist and human rights attorney in Iran.  She was imprisoned for eleven years for "spreading lies against the regime" among other things. They confiscated her only writing instrument so she can't write to her family, she can't work on her defense, she can't even mark the days of her sentence as they go by.  On April 28, 2011 570 PEN luminaries and supporters honored her as she received the 2011 PEN/Barbara Smith Freedom to Write Award.  Nobel Peace Prize winner Shirin Ebadi accepted the award on Sotoudeh's behalf. A letter written by Sotoudeh's husband Reza Khandan was read to the crowd. It contained the following quotes:

"According to the current court ruling, and her situation, without any additional charges, she will be without a pen for nearly 4000 days."

"We will honor and record the day of March 17, 2011, in our history so that our children will remember the dedication and sacrifice of all those around the world for the freedom to write."

We honor her sacrifice and of others like her. Enjoy some of the following Iranian/Iranian-American writers:

Hamid Dabashi--He is professor of Iranian Studies & Comparative Literature at Columbia University and has written over 20 books.
Firoozeh Dumas--She is an Iranian-American most famous for her memoir Funny in Farsi.
Porochista Khakpour--A former arts & entertainment journalist, her first novel won the 77th California Book Award Prize.
Shahriyar Mandanipur--He is an award-winning novelist of Modern Persian literature and now a well know international writer.
Taghi Modarressi--He was a child psychiatrist and fiction writer who was married to novelist Anne Tyler for 34 years. He died in 1997.
Azar Nafisi--She is an academic whose bestselling book Reading Lolita in Tehran has been translated into 32 languages.
Shahrnush Parsipur--Many of her works have been banned in Iran and she was imprisoned multiple times.  She now lives in exile in the United States.
Marjane Satrapi--Most well known for her graphic novel Persepolis.
Mahbod Seraji--His first novel Rooftops of Tehran has been on multiple  notable booklists.

For more information: PEN American Center

Good Ole Summertime

Don't you just love summer!  Water fights, picnics, swimming, and of course relaxing with a good book. What could be better?  Why it's our Summer Reading Club Program.  It begins June 6th and lasts through August 1. Our adult summer reading program has 4 prize drawings throughout the summer.  You could win a fabulous prize just for doing something you love to do, reading a great book!  So find any book you like whether it be a wonderful cookbook like Big Bob Gibson's BBQ Book or 1001 Escapes to Experience Before You Die. I personally enjoy a nice beach read. A few excellent quick reads are: Planting Dandelions, Remember Me, The Beach House, Body Surfing, and The Memory Keepers Daughter. Hope you enjoy our Summer Reading Program and have a great Summer!

This book is coming soon to a movie theater near you

It's time for summer reads (and Summer Reading -- don't forget to sign up starting Monday!), but it's also time for a few summer blockbusters.  There are a lot of books, both classics and newer, that will be showing up on a big screen this year.  From Jane Eyre and Snow Flower and the Secret Fan to One Day and The Help.  Oh, yeah, and the final installment of a small, relatively unknown series.  There's also the already-popular Water for Elephants and The Lincoln Lawyer.

Of course, having books translated into movies isn't limited to adult audiences there are also a lot of great books for kids and teens that have become great movies.  Check out a more complete list here.  If you've seen the movie but not read the book, check one out and see what you think.  Doesn't everyone say that the book is always better than the movie?  I suppose our friends over at Now Playing might disagree.  What do you think -- book or movie?  What's been your favorite movie based on a book?