Best Christmas Books

It's the most wonderful time of the year! My favorite holiday season is Christmas! I don't go so much for the hustle and bustle, but I love the scents, sounds and sights. I believe that people treat one another better during the holidays and most are filled with good cheer.  If you are not yet in the mood for the holidays perhaps a beautiful Christmas story will fill your heart with love.

Here are a mix of new wonderful Christmas stories and a few classic Christmas stories which everyone knows and loves.  I still sit  and read these classic Christmas tales with my children, although they are getting older some stories are just too good to be read once and done.  I hope you'll take a few minutes of your time this holiday season and read a wonderful Christmas story with the ones you love. 

Wonderful Christmas Treasures:

The Christmas Train by David Baldacci
An adventure occurs when a journalist is banned from flying and now must travel by train to get home. Although the journalist is not happy with the change in travel plans, perhaps Santa has a reason for the madness. This is a truly wonderful holiday story.
The Shepherd, The Angel and the Christmas Miracle Dog by Dave Barry
A local Christmas pageant goes horribly awry, can Christmas be saved? 
This Year It Will Be Different by Maeve Binchy
An anthology of Christmas stories which reflect on the ways holidays are a catylyst to promote change.
The Christmas Cat by Melody Carlson 
This is a humorous and heartwarming story which begins when Garrison's beloved grandmother passes away a few weeks before Christmas. He arrives to sort out her belongings and finds 6 cats in need of homes. However his grandmother has special requirements for the cats new homes which gives this story its levity.
The Christmas Box By Richard Paul Evans
A message of miracles, hope and love.
A Magical Christmas by Heather Graham
Jon and Julie Radcliff's marriage is in trouble can the love they shared be found or will their family be torn apart over the holidays? A magical old-fashioned vacation may just be what they need to realize the love they share still exists.
Christmas Eve at Friday Harbor by Lisa Kleypas
Three people are about to discover that Christmas is the time of year when anything is possible.
Angels At the Table by Debbie Macomber
A delightful mix or romance, humor and mischief with a wonderful ending. 
No Place Like Home by Fern Michaels
When their dad puts their grandmother in a nursing home the children rebel and vow to break granny out in time for Christmas!
The Christmas Wedding by James Patterson
A wonderful book that will give you a fresh look at family and the holidays.
Holidays on Ice by David Sedaris
A hilarious take on Christmas, this is not your child's Christmas story, but one designed for adults.

Classic Christmas Stories 
A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens
A Visit From St. Nicholas by Clement C. Moore
The Polar Express by Chris Van Allsburg
How The Grinch Stole Christmas By Dr. Seuss
The Gift of the Magi by O. Henry
Letters From Father Christmas by J.R.R. Tolkien
The Little Match Girl by Hans Christen Andersen
Miracle on 34th Street by Valentine Davies

Adventure Novels!

Critic Don D'Ammassa, in the Introduction to the Encyclopedia of Adventure Fiction defines the genre as:  ...An adventure is an event or series of events that happens outside the course of the protagonist's ordinary life, usually accompanied by danger, often by physical action. Adventure stories almost always move quickly, and the pace of the plot is at least as important as characterization, setting and other elements of a creative work.

 November 13th was the birthday of Robert Louis Stevenson, born in Edinburgh, Scotland (1850). He began to suffer from a lung disease at a very early age. He wanted to live a life of adventure but his poor health forced him to move to France. One night, he was passing by a house and fell instantly in love with a woman he saw. He followed her to San Francisco and married her.  They traveled constantly looking for a healthier climate.  They finally settled on the Pacific island of Samoa.

In the summer of 1881, Stevenson painted a map of an imaginary island for his stepson, and it gave him an idea for Treasure Island (1883). He finished it in a few weeks.  A few years later, he wrote the novella The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1886) in a single week. He also wrote Kidnapped in 1866.

Stevenson's peers saw him as one of the greatest writers of his generation. And he influenced others such as Ernest Hemingway, Vladimir Nabokov, Jorge Luis Borges and G. K. Chesterton.

Classics

Homer--The Odyssey (End of 8th century B.C.)
Daniel Defoe--Robinson Crusoe (1719)
Johann David Wyss--Swiss Family Robinson (1812)
Alexandre Dumas--Three Musketeers (1844), Count of Monte Cristo (1845)
Herman Melville--Moby Dick (1851)
Jules Verne--Journey to the Center of the Earth (1864), Twenty-Thousand Leagues Under the Sea (1869)
Rudyard Kipling--Captains Courageous (1897)
Joseph Conrad--Heart of Darkness (1899)
J. M. Barrie--Peter Pan (1902)
Jack London--Call of the Wild (1903), Sea-Wolf (1904), White Fang (1906)
Arthur Conan Doyle--The Lost World (1912)
Edgar Rice Burroughs--Tarzan of the Apes (1914)
J. R. R. Tolkien--The Hobbit (1936), The Lord of the Rings (1954-55)
William Golding--Lord of the Flies (1954)

Contemporary

Dale Brown--Act of War, Dreamland, Flight of the Old Dog
Dan Brown--Angels and Demons, The DaVinci Code
Lee Child--Jack Reacher novels (Killing Floor)
Michael Crichton--Congo, Jurassic Park, The Lost World
Clive Cussler--The Chase, Serpent, Spartan Gold (anything by him)
Nelson DeMille--Cathedral, Plum Island, The Quest
Jack Du Brul--Havoc, The Medusa Stone, Vulcan's Forge
Robert Ludlum--Jason Bourne novels (The Bourne Identity) 
George R.R. Martin--Song of Ice and Fire series (A Game of Thrones)
Gary Paulsen--Hatchet, The River, The Crossing
David Poyer--Fire on the Waters, The Med, The Whiteness of the Whale
Daniel Silva--Gabriel Allon series (Kill Artist)
Brad Taylor--Pike Logan series (One Rough Man)
Brad Thor--Scot Harvath series (Lions of Lucerne)
Peter Tonkin--Richard Mariner series (The Coffin Ship)

There are so many more!  What are some of your favorites?  Let me know what you liked as a child and what you enjoy now?

I loved White Fang and Lord of the Rings!


"If you don't like Stevenson, there must be something wrong with you."
Jorge Luis Borges

Christmas Treasures

Are you looking for a good book to read this Christmas? As the weather gets colder it is the perfect time to stay inside and relax with a great book.   Remember not all holiday stories are sweet, some can be scary or mysterious and others hilarious. So as you prepare for the festivities take time to sit back, relax and enjoy a great Christmas story. 

New Romantic Fiction Novels
Christmas Bliss by Mary Kay Andrews
Dogs of Christmas by  W. Bruce Cameron
Simple Christmas Wish by Melody Carlson
Catered Christmas Cookie Exchange: A Mystery with Recipes By Isis Crawford
Merry Christmas Cowboy by Janet Dailey
Christmas at Harmony Hill by Ann H. Gabhart
Starry Night a Christmas Novel by Debbie Macomber
Christmas on 4th Street by Susan Mallery
Christmas Carol Murder by Leslie Meier
Christmas Hope: A Novel by Anne Perry
Songs of Christmas by Katherine Spencer
Nantucket Christmas: A Novel by Nancy Thayer
Candlelight Christmas by Susan Wiggs
Seaside Christmas by Sherryl Woods

Funny Holiday Christmas Tales
On Strike for Christmas by Sheila Roberts This entertaining novel is about women who are tired of doing all the work for the holidays. They go on strike which forces their husbands to do the party planning and decorating.

Skipping Christmas by John Grisham A hilarious story of a family that decides to forego the craziness of the holiday season.

Holidays on Ice by David Sedaris This is a wonderful collection of hilarious Christmas essays, which includes his popular of account of working as an elf at Macy's.

An Idiot Girl's Christmas: True Tales from the Top of the Naughty List by Laurie Notaro If the season has you stressed give this light hearted story a try.

 Christmas Classics
These are a few of my favorites, which my children and I read every year. Do you have others that you read?

A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens
The Polar Express by Chris Van Allsburg
A Christmas Story by Jean Shepherd
The Greatest Gift by Philip Van Doren Stern
Yes, Virginia There is a Santa Claus by Francis P. Church
The Night Before Christmas by Clement C. Moore
The Christmas Box by Richard Paul Evans
How The Grinch Stole Christmas by Dr. Seuss
The Pine Tree Parable by Liz Curtis Higgs  I included this one because although it is not a classic, the story's message is beautiful. My family reads it every year. I hope yours will find it wonderful, too.

More Christmas Novels
The Christmas Train by David Baldacci
The Shepherd, The Angel and Walter the Christmas Miracle Dog by Dave Barry
This Year It Will Be Different by Maeve Binchy
Silent Night by Mary Higgins Clark
Sweet Revenge by Diane Mott Davidson
Christmas Letters by Debbie Macomber
Simple Gifts by Judith McNaught
The Spy Who Came For Christmas by David Morrell
Miracle on the 17th Green by James Patterson
A Christmas Visitor by Anne Perry
Silver Bells: A Holiday Tale by Luanne Rice
The Christmas Tree by Julie Salamon
Once Upon a Christmas by Lauraine Snelling
Family Games by Jean Stubbs
Christmas Jars by Jason F. Wright

If you have a favorite Christmas story that your family reads every year tell me about. Perhaps it will start a new family tradition for me or someone else.

William Shakespeare's Star Wars: Verily, A New Hope by Ian Doescher

William Shakespeare's Star Wars: Verily, A New Hope by Ian Doescher

Being a self-admitted sci-fi nerd, bookish, and a librarian causes me to stumble across some very interesting and unique crossovers, parodies, and mashups. Most people are familiar with Pride and Prejudice and Zombies and its other similar spin offs. I have also come across a slightly more puzzling crossover in the form of a graphic novel of Dr. Who teaming up with Cpt. Jean Luke Picard to stop a Borg/Cybermen alliance. But what has most recently caught my attention is Williams Shakespeare's Star Wars: Verily, A New Hope by Ian Doescher. Now, initially I was torn between excitement and annoyance regarding this combination of two things I very much like and never thought to combine. However, Ian Doescher, did a spectacular job transferring Star Wars: A New Hope into the language and the style of the Bard himself. He stays true to much of the plot and even works in some more well-known lines from the movie. Doescher does add a few bits that you don’t find in the movie, such as Luke Skywalker’s “Alas poor, Stormtrooper” scene, a clever take on the “Alas, poor Yorick” done in Hamlet.    

Yet, there are a few downsides to this book. You might get odd looks from coworkers and family as you regale them with the St. Crispin’s Day from Henry V pastiche that occurs before the Death Star trench run. Also, was with most Shakespeare, it really does work best if read aloud. So, if you can find friends and relations that would enjoy this nerdy mix-up, I would highly recommend getting them together and giving this book a try.

Help us hand out free books!

For centuries, April 23 has been an important day, literarily speaking. It is the date of Shakespeare's birth...and his death. It's also the day on which Miguel Cervantes died. Since 1923, Cervantes' death has been recognized in the Catalan region of Spain by giving a flower and a book to a loved one. Inspired by the Catalonian festival, in 1995 the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) declared April 23 the International Day of the Book. This led to the creation of World Book Night in 2011 in the UK, and the introduction of World Book Night to the US in 2012.

Very interesting history lesson, you might be thinking about now, but what does this have to do with anything? Specifically, what's this got to do with me?  I'm so glad you asked! World Book Night relies on the kindness of volunteers who love reading. Last year, almost 80,000 people signed up to pass out books in the four different participating countries.  Givers agree to hand out 20 free copies of a book provided by the author and publisher. The books are handed out to people who might typically not read.  The toughest requirement is to choose the book to give people. World Book Night sends a box of books to a distribution point for the giver to pick up. Last April, Woodbourne Library was proud to be one of the distribution points in the first US World Book Night -- and we're excited to announce that we'll be doing it again in 2013! Will you help us by signing up to be a book giver?

The books being provided include 30 titles ranging from classics like Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451 and Willa Cather's My Antonia to contemporary favorites like Tina Fey's Bossy Pants and Jesmyn Ward's Salvage the Bones.  A complete list of the books is available here. 

You can sign up to be a book giver at The World Book Night website.  If you do, choose Woodbourne Library as your distribution point.  And, let us know what book you choose! 

Guest blogger: Joanne Yeck

We at Fine Print are very excited to bring a series of posts by local authors. We have asked them to share their thoughts about their favorite book, something they've read recently, or the role reading has played in their lives. After earning her doctorate in cinema studies at the University of Southern California, Joanne Yeck taught and wrote about film history for many years.  In 1995, she followed her family roots to central Virginia where she fell head over heels in love with Buckingham County. Today, her fascination for Virginia has translated into a full-time occupation. When she is not exploring in the field, avoiding ticks and snakes, she can be found digging through dusty papers or spending endless hours reading microfilm. In between adventures, she lives in Kettering, Ohio. Joanne Yeck is the owner of Slate River Press, which published her most recent books, At a Place Called Buckingham (2011) and The Jefferson Brothers (Fall 2012). She is a Goodreads author. You can learn more about her early writings concerning motion pictures and American popular culture here. Joanne Yeck will be one of the local authors at A Tasting With Friends at Benham's Grove on September 13. For more information on this event or to buy tickets, check out this page.

A Peculiar Role Model: Mattie Ross and True Grit

A few years ago, I embarked on a little time travel, revisiting books of my youth. Some were sentimental favorites. Others shaped my thinking. Others, I suspect, weren’t fully grasped the first time around. This eclectic tour has included: Huckleberry Finn, Jane Eyre, Anthem, Little Women, Siddhartha, Slaughterhouse Five, Main Street, The Great Gatsby, and The Razor’s Edge. Most recently, I revisited True Grit by Charles Portis. Why did I wait so long?

I was first introduced to Mattie Ross, a heroine with “true grit,” shortly after the book was published in 1968. Like Mattie, I had been shaped by a Presbyterian ethos (especially the work ethic). Like Mattie, I was about fourteen years old. But, unlike Mattie Ross, I was a product of the post-war baby boom living in oh-so-safe suburbs. Mattie, on the other hand, was a product of the fading days of the Wild West. A straight-shooter, fearless, she was a girl with a mission. She called a spade a spade. When the famous outlaw, Frank James, did not stand for a lady, she called him “trash” to his face. She could survive anything.

This marvelous book fell out of print, only to be resurrected in the 21st century, with a wonderful afterword by Donna Tartt, who also narrated the audio book (2006). Tartt’s reading is perfection. Here’s hoping that both Portis’ book and Tartt’s reading remain available for generations to come. If this were the world of Farenheit 451 (a title yet to be revisited), I would memorize True Grit. It’s that funny. It’s that real. And, like every good western hero, Mattie Ross is true to her code to the end. I aspire to do the same.

A modern retelling of a book I've never read

I really want to write about The Flight of Gemma Hardy, the new book by Margot Livesay, but I'm a bit afraid to. It's a very engaging modern retelling of Jane Eyre...and therein lies the problem. Yes, Jane Eyre is a classic. There have been several movie versions (including, I just discovered, a 1944 version co-written by Aldous Huxley). There have been many retellings written, and an entire series that I love (The Eyre Affair) was originally based on the importance of the plot of Jane Eyre. And yet, I've never read it. Yes, I do feel a little shame. So, how can I compare a modern retelling?
The answer, of course, is that I can't. So, if you're wondering how Gemma Hardy stacks up to Jane Eyre, I'm of no help to you. I can really only be useful if you're wondering how it is as a stand-alone book. If you're curious, The Flight of Gemma Hardy is an engaging book that reads more quickly than its 450 pages would suggest. It follows orphan Gemma from the age of 10, in the year following her beloved uncle's death. Her childhood is tragic, and while her aunt is cartoonishly wicked and unloving enough to give the wicked Disney stepmothers a run for their money, Gemma's plight doesn't stray too far away from believability. Her time as a "working girl" in a boarding school similarly skates the fine line between caricatured school masters and a truly tragic situation and manages to fall on the right side. The book continues through the time Gemma is 19 and eager to find Icelandic roots, along with herself.

The focus of this book is Gemma. Other characters are not particularly well-developed, but Gemma is such a strong presence and her story is compelling enough to make the other characters' shallowness something that can be overlooked. I'm not sure whether having previous knowledge of Jane Eyre would have changed the way I read or enjoyed this book but on its own merits, it's worth a read. Now, if you'll excuse me, I think it's time I go read Jane Eyre.

World Cup Caliber Authors from France

With American football starting and the cooler temperatures last week--I am a very happy camper.  Don't get me wrong--I love football but I am missing the original "football" or soccer--especially after the exciting women's World Cup a few months ago.  So I thought since the men's winners got their own blog entries--then the ladies definitely deserve their own too. 
For the next four weeks I will be highlighting authors from the winner's home country--starting this week with fourth place France.  The French women's national team has only been in two World Cups (2003 and 2011) but they placed #4 this year and recently qualified for the 2012 Olympics--so they are on their way up.
From Nobel Prize winning writers Jean-Paul Sartre and Albert Camus, classic authors Guy de Maupassant and Marguerite Yourcenar, to the following more contemporary scribes--France has produced some gold medal caliber literature.
Try one of the following "winning" authors from France:

Pierre Boulle--Bridge Over the River Kwai
Claire Castillon--My Mother Never Dies: Stories
Philippe Djian--Unforgivable
Michelle Halberstadt--The Pianist in the Dark
J. M. G. Le Clezio--Mondo and Other Stories plus others
Mathias Malzieu--The Boy with the Cuckoo-Clock Heart
Irene Nemirovsky--Suite Francaise plus others
Tatiana de Rosnay--Sarah's Key plus others
Eric-Emmanuel Schmitt--The Most Beautiful Book in the World plus others

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?

The Top 100 Books according to...somebody

For the last couple of years, every so often I get a note from friends on Facebook asking which of the BBC's Top 100 books I've read, plan to read, liked, loved, and so on.  It purports to be the classics, as defined by the BBC, and notes that the BBC estimates suggest that most people have read only six of the titles.  I've shared this note myself, and tallied up how many I've read (52, in case you're curious).  It turns out that the list that's been circulating isn't really from the BBC at all, nor has the BBC ever estimated how many of these books most people have read.  What they did do was commission a survey of the British public in 2003 to find what their favorite novels are.  That list totalled 200 titles and can be found here.  They had no estimate of how many of these most people had read. 

Whether it's the list circulating on Facebook or the original BBC list, or a different one altogether, like the Radcliffe Publishing Course's 100 Best Novels, I think the idea of using a list like this is fascinating.  I so often get caught up in what's new that I lose sight of the old classics, especially those I wouldn't normally even consider reading.  Added to this, I recently re-read Nick Hornby's complete Polysyllabic Spree collection (which also includes Housekeeping vs. The Dirt and Shakespeare Wrote for Money) in which he writes about the books he reads.  His apparent love of Charles Dickens and other classic authors has inspired me to delve into the past a bit more.

In the spirit of the new year, I resolve to read at least ten books from one of these lists.  In the meantime, I welcome your suggestions of how I should do this: Which list should I use?  Should I work my way through the list in order (1 - 100) or should I start with the books that sound most interesting to me?  However I end up choosing titles, it's likely to be the only resolution I keep this year, so I'll let you know how it goes. 

Happy Birthday Agatha Christie!

September 15th would have been Agatha Christie's 120th birthday!  This beloved author was born in England in 1890, was the youngest of three children, and a nurse during WWI.  She wrote romance novels under the name Mary Westmacott , but is best remembered for her 80 detective novels and her successful theatre plays.  Her novels, particularly those featuring Hercule Poirot and Miss Jane Marple, have given her the title the 'Queen of Crime' and made her one of the most important writers in the development of the mystery genre.
The Guinness Book of World Records referred to Christie as "the best-selling writer of any kind along, with William Shakespeare"--and only the Bible is known to have outsold her novels.  Christie's books have been translated into at least 56 languages and many have been adapted for movies, television, radio, video games and comics.
Her first novel to feature Hercule Poirot was The Mysterious Affair at Styles and Miss Marple's debut book was The Murder at the Vicarage.

Here are some of her most well-known titles (and one of my favorites*):

4:50 from Paddington--book and movie.
Death on the Nile--book and movie.
Mousetrap--play.
Murder on the Orient Express--book and movie.
*10 Little Indians or And Then They Were None--book, movie, and videogame.

For more Dame Agatha go to the library's website and for more great mysteries try our Super Sleuths booklist from our Great Books, Great Libraries collection.

Great Books - More Strong Starts

The focus on Strong Starts (great books by first-time authors) continues this month.  While you're checking out first-time books by authors, don't miss local author Martha Moody's visit.  She'll be at the Centerville Library at 7:00 p.m. on February 10.  Her first novel was Best Friends.

Some other great first novels to check out include:

The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini

Amidst the religious, social, and political turmoil of Afghanistan from the 1970s to the present, two young boys from different backgrounds grow up together.

To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee
Six-year-old Scout Finch observes the reaction when her father defends a black man accused of raping a white woman in Depression-era Alabama.

The Story of Edgar Sawtelle by David Wroblewski
When mute Edgar is unable to save his father from death-or to prove his uncle’s culpability for it, he is forced to flee to the woods that surround his family’s dog breeding farm.

For a complete list of Strong Starts, check out the featured list here.

After 213 years, don't they deserve a rest?

Two hundred thirteen years ago, Jane Austen began writing a story about characters named Elizabeth Bennet and Fitzwilliam Darcy.  Seventeen years later, the book Pride and Prejudice was printed and in the years following, Elizabeth and Darcy have had little chance to rest.  I had long heard about this book and recognized its hallowed status as the pinnacle of romance.  In fact, I had heard so much about it, I didn't read it until a few years ago, because I was afraid it couldn't possibly live up to the hype.  When I did read it, I was pleasantly surprised.  I can see why it remained so popular.  For a book written at the end of the 18th century, it remains incredibly relatable and accessible.

What I've only recently discovered is just how very, very many adaptations the love for this book has spawned.  On any given day in the library you can find stories of life after marriage for the Darcys, such as: Pemberley, or Pride and Prejudice Continued or Two Shall Become One: Mr and Mrs Fitzwilliam Darcy: Pride and Prejudice Continues, or Mr. Darcy Takes a Wife: Pride and Prejudice Continues.  You can read about the Bennet sisters with The Independence of Miss Mary Bennet or Lydia Bennet's Story: The Continuing Adventures of Mrs. Darcy's Youngest Sister. You can read about the next generation of Darcys with An Unequal Marriage: Pride and Prejudice Twenty Years Later or Mr. Darcy's Daughters.  If you like imagining, "what if..." there's a series of books starting with The Last Man in the World that put forth counterfactuals of what would have happened to Darcy and Elizabeth under slightly altered circumstances.  Of course, there are the horror versions, Pride and Prejudice and Zombies and the lesser known Mr. Darcy, Vampyre, as well as modern re-tellings, including The Trials of the Honorable F. Darcy: a Modern Pride and Prejudice, and Pemberley by the Sea: A Modern Love Story Pride and Prejudice Style, which not only is, itself, a modern recasting of the classic story, but also has the Darcy-esque main male character writing a book in which he and his paramour are a modern-day Darcy and Elizabeth.  Oh...and I almost forgot the series that casts the newlywed Darcys in a variety of mysteries they must solve, beginning with Pride and Prescience, or, A Truth Universally Acknowledged: A Mr. and Mrs. Darcy Mystery. 

I've read a lot of re-interpretations of Pride and Prejudice.  I understand wanting to continue a story that you love, but really, none of them come close to the original.  For my taste, I'll take the real deal.  As for all the other versions, can't we just give Elizabeth and Darcy a rest? 

National Book Awards Celebrating 60 Years

The National Book Foundation is celebrating 60 years of the National Book Award. To do this, the foundation has set up a blog highlighting the 77 fiction winners. One book will be highlighted each day for 77 days. Visit this site for more information. The highlighted books on the page are active links that take you to the blog post associated with the book. So far, seven books have been highlighted and discussed. Some of the books that have been highlighted thus far include:

The Collected Works of William Faulkner

From Here to Eternity- James Jones

The Invisible Man- Ralph Ellison

The Adventures of Augie March- Saul Bellow

Ten North Frederick- John O'Hara

The finalists for the 2009 National Book Awards are set to be announced on October 14, 2009.

A way to make cleaning fun (really!)

I know, I know...this post would've been more appropriate a decade or two ago. But, I'm a little slow on the uptake, so bear with me. I've finally discovered the joy of audiobooks! To be fair, I had tried this once before. A couple of years ago, I downloaded an e-audiobook of Jane Eyre. I was so excited: I would get to discover a classic I'd not yet read while being productive. I took my MP3 player to the gym and proceeded to not be able to pay attention to a word of the book. Let me tell you, the Stairmaster is not the place to try to listen to Jane Eyre. But rather than thinking that perhaps it was unfair to pair a fairly heavy literary classic with the fast-pased monotony of working out indoors, I wrote off audio books altogether.

Recently, I decided to try again. I went for much lighter fare this time (Bridget Jones's Diary author Helen Fielding's Olivia Joules and the Overactive Imagination). While I still can't quite remember to pay attention if I'm on a machine at the gym (I stick with the traditional format of books for that), I have found it's great for other activities where I want to be reading but can't hold a book. I've discovered a new joy in cleaning, ironing, and weeding. So, to everyone who has told me I should give audiobooks another try, I heard you. And now, I hear my books, too!

Bold as all get out

I'll admit right up front: I am not a particularly bold person. I try to avoid conflict whenever and however possible (apologizing, making amends, faking a bad case of food poisoning to get out of the situation...whatever it takes). But, really, it takes a whole new level of literary chutzpah to take on a book that is consistently listed in the top 100 books of the 20th century, a book that is said to have spawned its own genre, a book...okay, enough suspense: Somebody far braver than I has written a sequel to A Catcher in the Rye and J.D. Salinger is not amused.

The publishing company calls it a parody; Salinger's camp calls it a rip-off. Call me a purist, but I can't imagine reading about a 76-year-old Holden, or "Mr. C," as he's referred to in the book, after he escapes from a nursing home and roams around Manhattan. (Okay, as I type that I can see maybe just a little bit where the parody would be a little amusing...) Did the pseudonymous author J.D. California really think that Salinger, who's known for coming out of seclusion only to protect (i.e., sue the pants off anyone who tries to mess with) his work, would just let this lie? Stay tuned for the interesting legal battle that's sure to follow. If Salinger loses, 60 Years Later: Coming Through the Rye will hit the bookshelves this fall. In the meantime, maybe check out the real thing to see what all buzz is about.

Revisiting classics

Every so often, I get so caught up in new releases (like Cecelia Ahern's Thanks for the Memories, which I giddily picked up from the hold shelf yesterday) that I forget how many classics I've not read in my life. Once I graduated and no longer needed to write essays on the light in The Great Gatsby or the moor in Wuthering Heights, I let those books fall to the wayside.

Last year, I decided it would be good to go back and revisit some of the classics I'd overlooked. (Frankly, I was hoping to combat the sneaking suspicion that I get a little more stupid with each passing year by reading things that at least would make me sound reasonably intelligent.) When I'm feeling at a loss for what to read next, I've been turning to Jane Austen (the classics, not the updated zombie kind which, frankly, creep me out), the Brontes, and, more recently, Mark Twain. I had, of course, read The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and The Adventures of Tom Sawyer but I hadn't ventured far beyond that. I recently stumbled across Personal Recollections of Joan of Arc and was surprised I'd never heard this book talked about as one of Twain's great works. Ostensibly written by a childhood friend of Joan's who grew up to be her page, it is quite different from his other books. It lacks the humor I've always known him for, but makes up for it with a true passion for the subject that often made me forget, in the way of any really well done historical novel, that I was reading fiction. I couldn't believe how caught up in it I found myself. While it has never been critically acclaimed, it was Twain's favorite (and last) of his novels: "I like Joan of Arc best of all my books; and it is the best; I know it perfectly well." – Mark Twain

Agreeing with Mark Twain on something that critics don't? That'll fight off the encroaching feelings of stupidity for at least a few days.

National Women's History Month

March is National Women's History Month, which is part of the National Women's History Project. For more information on this project, visit the organization's website here.

This project got me thinking about the works of the many great women writers over the years. But which of these authors are best suited to your tastes? Perhaps you enjoy the emotional works of Jane Austen. These novels often focus on missed opportunities and human relationships. The works of Maya Angelou somehow end up being uplifting despite her focus on topics that are often gut-wrenching. Maybe you want to check out the philosophical, futuristic works of Ayn Rand. She often wrote about equality and individualism in worlds that did not value these objectives. Joyce Carol Oates has written many remarkable works over her career. She has written poetry, prose, short stories, essays, and works for young adults. Virginia Woolf is considered one of the finest of women's fiction writers, though a nonfiction essay, A Room of One's Own, is perhaps her most well known work.

This list is a mere sampling of the many successful women's writers who helped transform writing over the years. Check the library's catalog for these authors and more of your favorite women's writers!