It's About Books December Book Discussion

It's About Books is meeting to discuss this book on Tuesday evening (barring a blizzard of course) at 5:30 at the library. Though the story centers on the murder of a young wife and mother by two fundamentalist mormons in the mid 1990's the story is really about the history of Mormonism in the United States from its inception in the mid 1800's. Krakauer, though not totally objective, I think, gives an impressive account of mormon history and where they stand today. It is a very timely subject. Polygamy and Mormon fundamentalism have been in the news, and books from the wives of morman polygamists have been popular as many have sought to understand just where they are coming from. This book was very eye opening and startling. We should have plenty to discuss! Join us if you can. Find discussion questions at our website at www.lemars.lib.ia.us under "Books and Reading" or follow the link.

Dark Assassin by Anne Perry

Dark Assassin is book number 15 in the William and Hester Monk series. So, Here I go jumping into the middle of a series for my first time reading Perry. This was a great story though, and I could hardly put it down. Perry does tend to give endless details, but I was not put off by this.
William Monk, of the Thames River Police witnesses a young woman's fall (or was it a push) off a bridge into the icy waters of the Thames. It is ruled a suicide and the young woman is assigned the grave of a suicide. A humiliating end. But Monk is unsure of what he'd actually seen and his investigations lead him into the dark and forbidding underworld of the sewers and tunnels of London during the time when they were being rebuilt and redone. We meet Toshers and Navvies, and lumpers. Indigent and homeless children as well as the very high class of London Society. It is a very Dickensonian view of the Victorian era-London in the late 1850's. The tale is well told and there is plenty of suspense and a nice twist at the end. Perry has several series of books and if you can start at the beginning of one of them, it is probably the best choice. Try the William Monk series. I know you'll enjoy.

Best Books 2009

It's getting to be that time of year. The time for looking back. For deciding the best/worst of the year. This list is from about.com blogger Mark Flanagan, the best literature of 2009

1. Little Bee by Chris Cleave. The Story of a friendship between a Nigerian girl and a British magazine editor.


2. The Last Song by Nicholas Sparks. Sparks is a favorite of our readers. This is the story of relationships between parents and children.


3. Homer and Langley by E.L. Doctorow This is the story of two eccentric bachelors from respected New York families who were found dead in their apartment amid a ton of trash. This is a fictionalized account of a story that captivated an audience of New Yorkers in 1947.


4. Her Fearful Symmetry by Audrey Niffenger This is about twins who have a supernatural encounter with their dead aunt in London

We have each of these books at the library. Best of 2009 books.

Firefly Lane by Kristin Hannah

I have just finished my second Kristin Hannah novel, Firefly Lane. As soon as the story began I knew that it was going to be vaguely similar to the one I had just finished. While this one was several hundred pages longer and spanned a far larger time period I felt like I had somehow already read it. Girl from trouble home with drug addict, absent mother, meets girl from stable loving home. Troubled girl is enveloped into the warm loving home and thus begins a 30 year long friendship/relationship. This story covers the entire 30 year span rather endlessly. The book was very warm and mostly sweet and filled with tear jerking moments with the usual line up: men, careers, marriage, children....with one girl pursing a career, and one pursuing marriage and family. If you want a pretty stereotypical read, well this is the book for you. It wasn't that I would have called it a bad read, after all, I did finish it. It's just, well not too surprising. No unusual characters, or even very deep relationships despite a 30 year friendship between two women. The book doesn't really get going and I skim quite a bit of the middle. Will this ever end? I know this will be the last Hannah book that I read (unless I'm on a desert Island and it's the only book I can find) But I will probably recommend them to people who aren't looking for something too deep to fill their evenings, or beach days with. Very predictable.

Finding Friends at the Library

We had a visitor yesterday who was thrilled to find the turkey just waiting for him! In addition to finding plenty of fun books to read he joined Mr. Turkey in a comfortable pose!
Speaking of fun books for preschoolers, hurry down to try out some great new Thanksgiving titles. Jim Arnosky is an author of wildlife and nature for children. He has honors galore for his books. His newest one is "I'm a Turkey" Learn how to 'talk turkey' and some facts about this peculiarly special thanksgiving bird! It's not what you expect. Gobble gobble.
A second new Thanksgiving book is "Thanksgiving Rules" by Laurie Friedman. This story, written in rhyme gives 10 simple rules to follow so you can most enjoy a delicious holiday! After all there is more to thanksgiving than just the Turkey and sweet potatoes.
So Happy Thanksgiving! There's still time to enjoy these books before the holiday. If you hurry!

GEOCACHING FOR THE WHOLE FAMILY

We have a big family event coming up on Monday. I'm excited to invite families in for this. It's a "Learn How To GeoCache" for everyone, young and old. We start here at the library at 6:30. GPS Systems are provided, so if you don't have one, come anyway!

I tried my first geocaching in October with some friends. Of course, I wasn't holding the GPS but I still got to tramp through the woods and have the thrill of discovery. It worked. We found a travelling geo tag-something you take with you and put in another location as you do more and more 'treasure hunting'. Part of the fun was just being with someone else who was enjoying themselves as much as you. The other part was using that GPS system. I love technology and it was great fun to figure out how it worked.
Kids of all ages are welcome to this. It will be a very hands on experience and you won't be sitting in the library for long. See you on Monday night!

Patty Jane's House of Curl takes place near Minneapolis in the 60's. The overall story is about the bonds of women in a very "Steel Magnolia-ish" style. I can't remember when I read a more tragic story than this one. Tragedies fall around every corner, from husbands to sisters. Though the Beauty parlor, the House of Curl, actually figures little in the overall story, it is offered as symbolic for family in general, though in one weird passage, The House of Curl holds an Art show movie that offends most of its patrons, and seems a bit out of place in the story overall. Characters abound, from outspoken Patty to a nearly unnoticeable Nora, to the mildly outrageous Clyde Chuka. I wish a lot of things about the story line of this book. Mostly, I wish I hadn't so highly recommended it before I'd even read it. Our monthly book Club will be discussing this book on Tuesday. I'm going to be interested in their opinion. Read it if you dare, but don't have high hopes for it.

The Things We Do for Love by Kristin Hannah

I just finished this wonderful book by Hannah. I know many others have discovered this author and really appreciate her family friendly stories. This book is scheduled to be a Book Club book in 2010 and I am quite confident that those reading it will thoroughly enjoy it. This is the story of Angie Malone and Lauren Riebadeau . Angie has just divorced her husband, Conlon after enduring the loss of a long desired child. Through much heartache and pain she heads back to her large and very loving Italian family to help out in the family business, and to heal from the pain of childless-ness. In the other part of town teen-ager Lauren Riebadeau lives with her alcoholic mothe. She has reminded Lauren her entire life that she was a mistake and that she will never really amount to anything. Lauren has spent her entire life trying to get her mother to love her just for herself and trying to be the perfect daughter, the perfect student, the perfect girlfriend. Her boyfriend David comes from a wealthy family and really has trouble relating to Lauren's poverty of love and self esteem. He only sees the smart image that she wants him to see. When he gets accepted to Standford and is prepared to head off to college without her, Lauren knows that life will never be the same...
You can probably guess at the rest of this story, it's exactly what you would think as you continue reading and Lauren ends up pregnant and her mother abandons her for yet another live in boyfriend. It held me to the end though. And it didn't end exactly the way I thought it would (hope that's not a spoiler) but it was most satisfying anyway.I think it's a lovely book and well worth the read. Pick it up at the library!

Even Money by Dick Francis

Ned Talbot is a bookmaker. And bookies are not exactly well loved in English society to say the least. A necessary evil more like. Ned is used to that, but when a mysterious man presents himself one evening after the races and claims to be his long thought-to-be-dead father, then is murdered right in front of him he has lots of explaining to do to a skeptical police audience. And, he has one very puzzling question to answer- Was this man really his father? Why would his grandparents, who raised him, have lied to him his entire life? It also seems that this father of his has really murdered his mother as well.
While Ned is off to find out the answers to his questions we watch as he struggles with his book making business and the large corporations set on swallowing him up. Dick Francis' newest Racing book, Even Money is similar to many of his other books in that it is connected in someway to English Racing. Francis gives a great deal about betting, horse identification and RFID chips, and though the information is great, it doesn't really matter if the reader 'gets it'. It is, after all, the story, the mystery that counts. The story picks up as we head to the end and we see loose ends coming together. Though, I admit, I am partial to horse racing ever since my first bet was placed on a Kentucky Derby winner and I won myself a cherry pie, and the likeable characters of Dick Francis' novels. This is Dick Francis and English style racing at its best.

Bad Luck and Trouble by Lee Child

This is book number 11 in the Jack Reacher series by Child. It was my first one. I love to start in the middle of a series and see if the book will stand on its own as a 'good' one. This one fits the bill! It seems the hero, Jack Reacher, has no home, no worldly goods and no place to lay his head, but he's part of a special team that 'No one messes with special teams' seems to be in a serious trouble. Half the team assembles and they begin to try to solve the riddle of what has happened to their compatriots. Terrorism, violence, murder. Everything points to an attack on US commercial airplanes. The bad guy is not just a part of some terrorist cell, he's, well...maybe that's giving away too much. If you don't want to start with number 11 I still recommend Lee Child. Go ahead, pick up the first Jack Reacher book and work your way to this one. If you're already a fan, you will enjoy this one as well.

The Case of the Missing Marquess by Nancy Springer

Oooh, this was a delightful story! It's written for students from about 5th-9th grades, and any mystery or Sherlock Holmes lover will enjoy this story. Sherlock Holme's mother has gone missing and his 14 year old sister, Enola is left alone and confused. Enter Sherlock and brother Mycroft. Neither one of them are able to make headway on the case and they decide to send Enola off to a proper girls finishing school. This is not what Enola has in mind, so she runs away. On her way she gets involved in another local mystery and the fun begins! This is the first of many Enola Holmes mysteries and once you get through this one, you will surely want to read another. I loved this story and along the way you learn about 19th century London and the Victorian age as well as customs, dress, and speech. This is a great mystery for beginning mystery lovers!

Petropolis by Anya Ulinich

This month's book club discussion is about Ulinich's book Petropolis. The story is about young Sasha Goldberg, a half jewish, half black Russian Teenager living in depressing, post communist Asbestos 2 in Siberia. That her life is filled with abject misery is plain, and so is the life of almost every character we meet in the book. I did not find much redemption in this story, even in the crippled Jake, or the reunion of Sasha with her daughter and most especially not in the way Sasha ends up in America. To say that I did not enjoy the book is an understatement, but then, I don't think I was supposed to enjoy it in the traditional sense. It did, make me think, especially about our perceptions about culture and immigration. I had to force myself through the first 100 pages, but it was a bit easier after that fortunately. I will be interested to hear what others thought of this story.

The Girl With the Pearl Earring

This book, the Girl with the Pearl Earring by Tracy Chevalier is not a new publication. In fact, even the movie (2003) based on this title is not new. But of course, sometimes that seldom matters if the topic is timeless. This is the fictionalized account of the famous painting by Johannes Vermeer in about 1665 of "The Girl with the Pearl Earring". And actually, no one really knows the 'story' of this painting, who this girl really is, or how she came to be painted by Vermeer. Was she really his daughter, or some other household member, like a maid as is suggested in this story by Chevalier. No matter, the story is a wonderful glimpse in to life, culture, and customs of the Dutch in the 17th century. Though we don't end up really knowing too much about Johannes Vermeer, we do learn a lot about some of the subjects of his paintings, of the art of, well art. This was a wonderful book, an easy read, and it certainly made me more curious about Vermeer's work and life. You can see some of his paintings here, and if you've read the book or plan to there are many things in each of his paintings that you'll find in this story.

Private Peaceful by Michael Morpugo

I finished this book on Wednesday morning. It's rare that I am surprised by an ending, but this one was somewhat of a surprise. It was also a very powerful book for young adults. It's the story of two Peaceful brothers, Charlie and Tommo who have both gone off to fight the 'Hun' in France in 1914 when Charlie is 18 and Tommo is 14. Each chapter begins with time. Tommo is remembering through one long sleepless night of his life in England with his 2 brothers and his mother and Molly. Ah, Molly. It's such a lovely sad story about family and relationships and becoming. And of course, the horror of war. In particular the horror of the "Great War". This makes warring so personal. I have read Jeff Shaara's book "To the Last Man" about the first World War and that gave quite a bit of perspective on this very personal story about it. An outstanding book. Enjoy it if you can.

Burn by Linda Howard

This was my first and probably last Linda Howard novel and it was red hot alright! I did not know what to expect when I started reading this book, but it fairly reeked with all of the sterotypical aspects of a romance novel. Mind you, it had a little action spy thriller thrown in on top just so we wouldn't get all wrapped up in that hunk of a guy with the odd first name, Cael. Of course the female lead is named Jenner so we are pretty well set in the unusual, this-should-keep-your-attention name department. The story is about the wealthy, albeit 'workingman' Jenner Redwine who has won the lottery and now has a new kind of life because of all that money. She is kidnapped on a cruise for the ultra wealthy and forced to work for her kidnappers in order to save a friend's life. But creeping into the middle of all this she falls in love with that hunk of a kidnapper/good guy while sleeping handcuffed to him. hmmm. I'm not a huge romance novel fan, but it all seemed pretty standard fare for the romance novel. The real writing came in when the sex scenes started appearing. (that's the 'red hot' part) It seemed this was the real reason why she was writing this novel, I thought. Everything else was pretty boring and familiar. Seriously, I could have predicted how this would turn out from the beginning. After all, what could be more sexy than to fall in love with your captor..
So. If you want to read about kidnapping, and intrigue, or a spy thriller about the north Koreans stealing weapons of mass destruction, better pass on this one. But as a sex novel. Well. It's in there.

The Star of Kazan by Eva Ibotsen

Annika is a foundling discovered in a church by two old women who are on holiday in the Swiss mountains and happen by the church. They live in Vienna and take Annika along and end up raising her in a most happy household filled with bachelor professors, and a community of friends and school and even cooking and cleaning. Annika's deepest longing as she grows is that her mother would one day appear and claim her and take her away to a life for just the two of them. Then one day a woman does show up on her doorstep claiming to be her mother and whisks her away to a run down estate in Germany. Annika, unaware, inherits a trunk full of 'fake' jewels from an elderly friend. How does that fit in with her newfound mother and uncle and brother and cousin? How could she end up in a stern school for girls, alone? And her new friend, Zed? How could he have lied to her and then run off with the horse Rocco?
I listened to this story on a 'playaway'. It was great for my morning walks and I thoroughly enjoyed this story. There is plenty of mytery and intrigue and I fell in love with each of the characters that Ibotsen develops so well. A great read (or listen) for students 8 and older.

The White Queen

I have never read any of Philipa Gregory's historical novels before though I once started her popular "The other Boylen Girl" that had been made into a movie! (not enough time) The White Queen was my first one. I listened to it over several days as I drove back and forth from work. If you enjoy English King/Queen history then this book will be a delight for you. You have to keep in mind that this is a work of fiction, however! There was plenty of drama though this was ultimately a love story and a delving into what the English monarchy was like during the15th century.
It is the story of the Plantagent monarchy and the so called 'Cousins' Wars. The White Queen, Elizabeth Gray, marries the usurper King Edward, who with the help of the Duke of Warwick, took the throne by force. Elizabeth and Edward went on to rule England for many years and they had 8 children, 2 of whom were boys, the young princes Edward and Richard. Though this bit of English history was vaguely familiar to me, Gregory's work put a face to what before had been only musty history. I once saw Shakespeare's Richard III as an outdoor stage production and knew about the 2 young prince's that he murdered and of course his loss of the battle to the Henry who was the beginning of today's Tudor Kings. Gregory's book helped fill in some gaps in my understanding of that time and especially of who and what Richard III was along with all the intrigue and politicking that abounded in the royal English court. I enjoyed this story and think anyone who enjoys English history might as well!

Trucktown

I bought 2 of Jon Scieszka's Trucktown books for my grandsons last week. I wanted to save them until I absolutely needed them, but the boys found them before we hit that moment. I could not read them enough they loved them that much! Trucktown is Scieszka's (author of the Time Warp Trio series) newest series and it's aimed right at busy active boys. There are 14 different books in the series- cement mixers, garbage trucks, dump trucks, cranes and even an ice cream truck all with adventures and smashing and crashing of their own. They smash and crash and build and roar all over town.
You know, those kids will now have the perfect reason to be smashing down all those building block towers they have created! They'll be joining the truck town crew. Not only does Scieszka have the right amount of colorful action filled trucks in his books he's created a website where kids can continue the fun of smashing and crashing and dumping and building. It's Jon Scieszka's Trucktown (amazingly enough) and there are lots of fun things for those little computer literate boys can do that are related to these books. Find that here. So before you even go out and buy one of these great books, you can check out what they're all about. Enjoy

Olive Kitteridge

Elizabeth Strout's Pulitizer Prize winning book was my latest read. Another book that I often thought about as I went through my day. The main character, Olive Kitteridge is a person that I feel like I vaguely know. Though stern and unbending she reminds me of my grandmother somehow. Another generation that I'm not quite connected to and have difficulty relating to. This book takes a look at how our lives rush by and the changes in it can some times be baffling and leave us disoriented and dismayed. The story is told in a series of little stories with Olive sometimes as the center of the story, and somethimes as just a bit player. All of them feature citizens of Crosby, Maine and tales of hurt, loss, life. I highly recommend this book, and am even more thrilled to say I loved a Pulitzer Prize winning story.

September Book Club

My very favorite kind of book can be any genre - you know, a mystery, a romance, science fiction or a western, but it has to be one that I can't put down. And when I do put it down I have to be thinking about it, wondering about it's characters, the story line and what new turn I'm going to find. Then When I get to the end. Well, there is the great sadness. Ending a book I really like is, at the same time bittersweet and satisfying. Not to many books out there that I feel that way about but Mark Haddon's The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time was one of them. This was a book recommended by my sister. She usually has some really good story for me to read when I go visit her and I end up reading the story instead of visiting the way a good sister should. I can't tell you how many times that's happened. This means that when she tells me the book is "really good" I usually believe her and pick it up and get going. She rarely disappoints me.

All this as a lead in to Haddon's wonderful book about a 15 year old boy with Asperger's. The story is told from Christopher's point of view and I really liked that about the book. It gave me perspective and respect for not just those I know who are autistic but who are 'different'. This book is our September book Club selection. Be sure to stop down and pick up a copy. Enjoy the read then we'll see you at book Club On September 8 at 5:30

The Defector

Daniel Silva's new Gabriel Allon book, The Defector was wonderful! It continues the story of Gabriel after he brings Russian defector Grigori Bulganov out of Russia from his last book, Moscow Rules. His disappearance draws Gabriel out of semi-retirement and into the path of Ivan Kharkov, the former KGB agent and Russian oligarch from Moscow Rules. Exotic locales, intriguing characters, and a breakneck pace
Gabriel is living a peaceful contented life restoring art for the Vatican and getting to know his bride, Chiara in Italy when Grigori is kidnapped by arms dealer Ivan Karhkov. The Ivan who's main goal in life is to emulate Stalin and inflict as much damage on the rest of the world as possible. Exotic locales intriguing characters, and a breakneck pace. I hope this isn't the last Gabriel story we'll have.
But if you haven't read any spy novels at all, Silva's series is a great one to start with!

The Devil's Punchbowl

I finished listening to Greg Iles The Devil's Punchbowl on Friday on my way home from work. This was the story of a gambling casino in Natchez, Mississippi gone really really wrong.

"The Devil’s Punchbowl refers to a deep pit near the river in Natchez, Mississippi. Not only have outlaws dumped numerous murder victims there, but there is also a long-standing rumor that it is where Jean Lafitte buried his treasure. This is a dangerous place, a kudzu-strangled, snake- rat- and armadillo-infested hole so deep that the bottom can’t be seen. Against this backdrop, Iles plunges the reader into a mix of murder, racial tension, double-crosses, illicit sex…and all of the ensuing violent consequences.

Rich with Southern atmosphere and plenty of page-turning intrigues, The Devil’s Punchbowl is further proof that Iles is today’s unparalleled master of the suspense novel" -Kirkus review





If you enjoy suspense and thrills you will enjoy this one for sure. It's fast paced and full of surprises and tension! I will also add that there is quite a bit of violence and since the topic is about dog fighting the images Iles paints can be quite disturbing, so reader beware! This was my first Iles book and I will be sure to try another one.

The Help

I know, the year is only half way through and here I am picking the best book that I've read this whole year. That book is, Ta Da!! The Help by Kathyrn Stockett. Oh my goodness, I could not put it down. And when it was down all I could think about was what was going to happen and what must be going on in the book right now. We were camping and when I should have been doing other things I was sneaking some reading in. I read sitting around the campfire, I read before bed, I read while my husband started the morning with the breakfast cooking routine. I read when we rode in the car. I finished the book in 3 days with a bit of extra things thrown in for good measure.


The book centers on the lives of 3 women, 2 black and 1 white, in the south during the 1960's. It is the story of Jackson, Mississippi and those southern belle sorority girls who have little to do but play bridge and gossip all day, and their 'help' black domestics who clean, cook and care for their children all day. It takes quite a look at the injustice and racial lines that were firmly in place during the 60's but puts a very personal face to it all. I found the story to be very authentic, troubling and deeply compelling. This is one book I highly recommend.

The Little Giant of Aberdeen County

I finished Little Giant of Aberdeen County by Tiffany Baker the other day. Someone in book club highly recommended it. This book followed the life of Truly Plaice, who was born bigger than any baby known. She was born in a small town in the 50's. I wanted so much for someone to love this child and when it eventually shows up, for her to truly accept it and herself for who she is. I wept at the ending and found myself wondering if in my encounters with others I waste time judging the other person because of their weight, their beard, their family circumstances before I even get to know them. I longed for others of the town to give Truly a hand up, an understanding ear, anything that would have lessened the pain of her life. Even some decent healthcare would have helped.

This is a debut novel by this author, and I highly recommend this book. It's one you own't put down!

"She never understood that love- especially that of a child- was the most necessary weight you can endure in life, even if it hurts, even if it tugs bags under the skin of your eyes. Without it, the soul skitters to the edge of the world and teeters there, confused

Deadlockby Iris Johansen

I just slipped the last disc of the book Deadlock by Iris Johansen, back into its case and returned it to the library. I haven't read any of Johansen's other works and after this book, I'm not likely to. I listened to the audio version on my daily commute and was disappointed in the quality of the recording as well. Since it was abridged I think I missed some key transitions in the story.


The story centers around Emily Hudson, a UN worker whose job is to salvage museum artifacts from war torn countries like Afghanistan. In this case Emily's whole team was brutally murdered and she and a coworker savagely brutalized for an artifact that turned out to be connected to the Mad Monk of Russia-Rasputin. Not a lot of background is given on him, though it wasn't necessary, it would be helpful to understand who this character was and how he fit into Russian history. Our really evil character, an australian named Staunton, was trying to find this artifact for his 'employer' and he was trying to do so with any means possible-including rape, torture, kidnapping and murder. Emily is rescued by former CIA agen Garrett and he promises to help her find and extract revenge on this psychopath Staunton.


I struggled with the total predictability of the story, the continuous need for violence and a little sex (voluntary) thrown in. I finally had to skip to the end of the audio to find out how it ended, and call it good. I would have been able to guess at the ending anyway.


It is classified as a thriller, but that was a no-show for me.

Welcome to the Great Mysterious

The family did a girl's book discussion over the weekend. We chose Lorna Landvik's Welcome to the Great Mysterious for our first book. We had a great time in a small coffee shop talking about a book that was an overall fun, though relatively light read. This is the story of Geneva and Ann, Twin sisters living vastly different lives. Geneva, a broadway star. Ann a housewife living with her professor husband in Minnesota. Ann and her husband plan a trip to Italy and ask as a special favor for sister Geneva to come take care of their son, 13 year old Rich who has Down's Syndrome. Geneva has had a series of failed relationships, has just retired from the stage and is ready for a change in her life. Though she is fearful about taking care of her handicapped nephew she insists she is up for the challenges. For me, though, this book was about family and relationships. The best part of the story comes in the form of the discovery of a childhood book that the girls had made called "the Great Mysterious". In this book, written when the girls were pre teen agers the family answers a series of questions related to all those unanswerable questions: 'What is True Love?' 'What is the Meaning of Life'? 'What is faith?'
While some of the answers seemed trite to me, I loved the idea of involving the whole family and sharing with even young children what some of the secrets of life are all about. Even more, though was the sharing that we were doing as a family ourselves. A daughter and two daughters-in-law withtheir mother in law? It was better than the book in the end. But read it. Share your answers to some of the great questios.

About Face by Donna Leon

I hope you've read something by Donna Leon before. If not, it's still not too late! Her series about Comissario Guido Brunetti of the Venice Polizia is absolutely wonderful. In this story, About Face, we learn about the problem of garbage and dumping and the pollution plaguing Italian cities. An investigator from the caribineri, looking into illegal dumping, asks Guido for a favor as does his father in law. The tragically marred Franco Marinelli and her husband are somehow involved with all of this and Brunetti soon finds himself in the middle of a dangerous murder investigation, and corruption scandal.

This is a great read, not to be missed if you're a mystery lover, and even better if you long for a trip to Italy. This is a great taste of that beautiful country.

Oprah Picks

Oprah herself recognizes that cultural phenomenom of 'summer reading' (you know the one: extra time, days at the beach, vacation travel so we have to have something to read) and has a new list of 25 summer picks for all of us compulsive summer readers. She calls them 'Books You Can't Put Down'. I'd actually have to read one in order to decide if I agree with her. Oprah notoriously chooses books that are usually never ones I would normally pick for a collection. Her favorite authors I've learned to avoid. But when I ran across this list, I thought I'd share it with you, so you can keep up with the Oprah culture at the very least. Enjoy!

25 books you can't put down

Tea Time for the Traditionally Built

I finished up book # 10 of Alexander McCall Smith's series of the Ladies No. 1 Detective Agency. I am a mystery fan, and this series just fits the bill for those who love stories that dig into human nature. Precious Ramtoswe is the owner and chief detective of the Ladies No. 1 Detective agency in Botswana, S. Africa. The only female detective in the country she believes that there is no problem that can't be solved with common sense and an understanding of human nature. In this story we see her struggling with her faithful friend, her little white van, agreeing to help the president of the local football team figure out why they are always losing, even though Precious has no idea what football is about. Mix in her assistant Mma Makatusi and her fiance Phuti Radiphuti, rival Violet Sepotho and you have a wonderful easy going story good all the way through. Read with a cup of tea in hand and you will have the spirit of the whole book!

The Absolutely True Diary of a Part Time Indian

We just got a set of play aways here at the library. These are a digital version of an audio book, and pretty cool at that. Stick your headphones in, press play and off you go. I have been listening to Sherman Alexie's Young Adult Novel, The Absolutely True Diary of a Part Time Indian. I am absolutely gripped by it. Mind you, I wouldn't want my 5th grader listening to this one, but it will strike a chord with those high schoolers and any adult that checks it out.


The story is about Junior, a native American Indian from Spokane Tribe living on the 'rez'. He lives with his alcoholic father and long suffering mother, his grandmother and sister. The story does not gloss over what grinding poverty can do to the soul, what the government has taken away, or the hope that sits like a small glimmer in the most desperate of hearts. This story was alternately hilarious and heartbreaking. I couldn't quit listening. I recommend this book but with a warning...teenage boys and sex. teenage boys and violence.

Long Lost

Long Lost is another thriller from Harlan Coben. I listened to this on my drive to work. The story features main character Myron Bolitar. I jumped into the middle of this series but would not have had to have read any of the others as this story stands on it's scary own. The story is about a terrorist plot that somehow involves the long dead daughter of a former lover. The terrorists and mossad and french police and American Homeland security forces chase each other from America to Europe and back again. The bad guys are seriously unscrupulous and the good guys are equally scary in their ineptitude, or naivite. Hearing the book seemed so shocking in many aspects. I think if I'd have read it I wouldn't have noticed the blood and gore so much. I tend to skip those things. I did enjoy the twisting ride that this story provided, and I think if you enjoy spy thillers this will be just the story for you!

A Long Way Gone

I'm not quite sure how we came to put two very different books, but both about war back to back for book discussions but we did. The book we will be discussing for July is Ishmael Beah's book A long Way Gone, memoirs of a boy soldier. This book is non fiction and centers on the civil war in Sierra Leone in the mid 1990's. This is more than another 'war' story, though. It is the shocking and brutal account of the war torn African nation of Sierra Leone, where boys as young as 7 were forced to fight for a cause they were far to young to understand, except in terms of how the fighting had destroyed their childhoods. It is amazing that anyone , especially these very young fighters is able to escape the carnage with any sanity. This will prove to be an interesting discussion and I recommend this book. Check out the website for a full synopsis of the book and for discussion questions.

Magic Show: Be Creative @ Your Library

 

The Book Thief

It's About Books book club meets this coming Wednesday evening to discuss Markus Zusak's critically acclaimed book The Book Thief. This is the second time I have 'read' the Book Thief by Markus Zusak. Actually, this time, I listened to it. Zusak's story revolves around a 10 year old girl, Liesel Memminga and her foster family the Huberman's, in Munich Germany during a 4 year period of World War II. Liesel is the Book Thief of the title. She steals words, in part to help her cope with the upheaval of her life. It is so different when you hear the author's words, rather than read them yourself. It's something about the reader's inflection and tone that paints a picture that just reading can't. I could see the characters much more clearly this time than when I had just read it. While I liked the book when I read it, I Loved the book when I heard it. Zusak's language is beautifully poetic and descriptive despite the horrific subject of Nazi Germany. He captures for you the look and feel of war and death, of school girls and defiance and life and hatred, and the ordinariness of life during war. I found myself repeating the phrases of his language over in my head just as I looked at the sky or heard the birds singing in the morning. I definitely found myself being moved by this young girl's plight at the end of the story. This is not an easy book to read, let alone to hear but it is very moving and powerful. Some may even call this a very depressing story, but the beauty of the language makes it well worth the time.

Confessions of a Shopaholic by Sophie Kinsella

Ok, it's a good thing I didn't have anything else to read when I started on this book or I would have trashed it at page 10. I was extremely frustrated by the main character Rebecca Bloomwood, expecting her to have a whole lot more sense from the get go, seeing that she was a financial advisor and writer. I also have trouble with people who think that the latest fashion trend is going to solve their problems, make them popular, or as in Rebecca's case satisfy this inner longing to 'possess'. I felt considerably better by the time I got to the end of the book, though. And, looking back I could laugh at the contortions that our heroine made to posess one lovely scarf at the expense of her imaginary dying aunt! I think that anyone who loves fashion and style will be able to relate to this story a whole lot more than I did. But I'm glad I read it. Anyone wanting a quick lite read, this is the book for you! Then if you find you liked this book more than I did, you'll be in luck because author Kinsella has a whole series of "Shopaholic" books.

CJ Box

I had never read C.J. Box before but have heard a lot about his books and knew that he was becoming pretty popular. I just had my first opportunity to read one of his books: Blue Heaven. Let me just say that if you're a mystery fan, a thriller fan this will be a book that you will love! This story hooked me on the first page, at the very first sentence. The story centers around two young children who witness a murder and run for their lives after that. The story takes place in the beautiful setting of Idaho. It is fast paced and kept me turning the page long after I should have been doing other things (like sleeping!) I am anxious to try another one and I'm sure all you mystery lovers will enjoy it as well.

Fatally Flaky

This newest book from Diane Mott Davidson was just what the doctor ordered! It was regulation length for a flight across the country. In other words, I finished it over the weekend and enjoyed it thoroughly. Davidson's books center on Goldy Schulz, a caterer in the Colorado Mountains. She creates the most mouth watering recipes I have ever heard of. Worse, I know I will never cook like she does and wonder why I don't sponsor some event so I can try out those declious sounding recipes she comes up with. My picture of her is not of some slim young thing but of someone who enjoys food.. a lot! This story was tons of fun as it centered on a Bridezilla from hell. I just love reading about nasty people and especially getting someone else to deal with it.

Billie has been engaged twice and rejected twice, so hopefully this wedding will be the charm, though as soon as characters start getting killed off you know the ending is not going to be so great for this bride. IT's not disappointing, though and lives up to all the twists and turns. Catering weddings, and cooking low-fat food, could be killing her—literally.

We have the book in our collection, so be sure to check it out, or get it reserved for you!

Language of Bees

Laurie King has a new book out, The Language of Bees, and I am taking it with me to Michigan this weekend. I fell in love with her Sherlock Holmes series when I read The Bee Keeper's Apprentice several years ago. That book introduced me to Mrs. Sherlock Holmes and her life as the wife of the famous Sherlock Holmes. All of the familiar characters show up in these series: Watson, Mycroft, Mrs. Hudson and even elements of Holme's nemesis, Dr. Moriarity. There is a genuine feel for the Holmes character in each one of King's books. There are now 9 books in the series. Each one sends Mary Russell and Sherlock out on a wonderfully original and entertaining story that is funny, heartwarming, and full of intrigue, with Holmes and wife, Mary Russell, matching wits with some of the finer criminal minds of the times. Everything about this series rings true. So, Stop down, or better yet go to our website and reserve this book for yourself.

Catch you at the library!

Poem in Your Pocket Day

April has been National Poetry Month. There are plenty of people out there who still appreciate poetry I'm sure, though I doubt it's as valued as it was a hundred years ago. But if you have the time to check out this site, poets.org you can find hundreds of poems that might appeal to you. "For poems are not, as people think, simply emotions (one has emotions early enough)—they are experiences." —Rainer Maria Rilke

Then if you find your favorite, you can write it down and carry it in your pocket to share at just the right moment! (today of course, since this is the last of the Poetry Month) Here's one of my favorites by Alfred Lord Tennyson: (Enjoy!)

Crossing the Bar

by Lord Alfred Tennyson
Sunset and evening star,
And one clear call for me!
And may there be no moaning of the bar,
When I put out to sea,

But such a tide as moving seems asleep,
Too full for sound and foam,
When that which drew from out the boundless deep
Turns again home.

Twilight and evening bell,
And after that the dark!
And may there be no sadness of farewell,
When I embark;

For tho’ from out our bourne of Time and Place
The flood may bear me far,
I hope to see my Pilot face to face
When I have cross’d the bar.

These Is My Words

These is My Words by Nancy Turner was published in 1998. It May's Book Club book. And I just finished reading it for the second time. It was as wonderful the second time around as the first. The story is a series of diary entries recorded over a twenty year period of a young pioneer woman's life. The story was inspired by the author's own grandmother's memoirs. Sarah Prine lives in a harsh environment in the Arizona territories battling Indians, rattlesnakes, death and the cruelties of nature. It brings early American experience to life and gives rich details about a way of life that has long vanished. These books are available at the library for checkout. Read and enjoy, then join us for our discussion on May 12.

Pulitzer Prize Winners

Today they are announcing the 2009 winner of the Pulitizer Prize for Literature. You know the Pulitzer Prize for literature, right? Last year's winner was The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz. And of course, there are the famous 'other' winners from years' past: you've heard of the Grapes of Wrath by Steinbeck, Beloved by Toni Morrison, even that 1936 novel by Margaret Mitchell is familiar (Gone with the Wind won in 1937). And it would seem that winning a big literary prize like the Pulitzer Prize for Literature would make novels live on in history being made into movies, spending years in various discussion groups, and of course being added to High School English Reading lists, like prize winning books are wont to do. I recently ran across a list of the Pulitzer Prize winners for Literature from years past and here's the thing: What? .... Who? I doubt one single one of these prize winning books would have made it through our first round of weeding. Check out this list. I'd be interested if anyone has read any of these:

His Family by Ernest Poole, 1918

Early Autumn by Louis Bromfield, 1927

Scarlet Sister Mary by Julia Peterkin, 1929

Laughing Boy by Oliver Lafarge, 1930

Years of Grace by Margaret Ayer Barnes, 1931

The Store by T.S. Stribling, 1933

Lamb in His Bosom by Caroline Miller, 1934

Now in November by Josephine Winslow Johnson, 1935

Honey in the Horn by Harold L. Davis, 1936

In This Our Life by Ellen Glasgow, 1942

Journey in the Dark by Martin Flavin, 1944

Guard of Honor by James Gould Cozzens, 1949

The Way West by A.B. Guthrie, 1950

The Town by Conrad Richter, 1951

The Travels of Jaimie McPheeters by Robert Lewis Taylor, 1959

Stay Tuned. We'll see who won this year's award!

Exit Music

Exit Music is a novel by Ian Rankin. This is my first Rankin novel and it probably won't be my last. Though it took a bit to get started with this one, I have been hooked since early on. This is a mystery, one of my favorite kinds, no less, a murder mystery! The story revolves around a murdered Russian poet who has been living in Scotland and the detectives trying to solve the case. A dissident Russian poet has been found dead in what looks like a mugging gone wrong. By apparent coincidence a high-level delegation of Russian businessmen is in town, keen to bring business to Scotland. The politicians and bankers who run Edinburgh are determined that the case should be closed quickly and clinically.
But the further they dig, the more Rebus and his colleague DS Siobhan Clarke become convinced that they are dealing with something more than a random attack - especially after a particularly nasty second killing. Meantime, a brutal and premeditated assault on local gangster 'Big Ger' Cafferty sees Rebus in the frame. Has the Inspector taken a step too far in tying up those loose ends? Only a few days shy of the end to his long, inglorious career, will Rebus even make it that far?
If you enjoy mysteries and you want something you haven't tried before pick up this Rankin novel.

The Thief Lord

I just finished Cornelia Funke's The Thief Lord. This was a thoroughly enjoyable read. It's a juvenile/young adult book and I can see how kids would really enjoy this story. The novel is set in Venice, Italy among the streets, canals, and landmarks of that lovely Italian city, where the brothers Prosper and Bo have fled to avoid being split up by an aunt who wants to adopt only the younger Bo. A detective named Victor Getz has been hired to track the two boys down. And so the adventure begins... Students will enjoy this story and no doubt be reminded in many ways, of the Harry Potter series. There is plenty of magic and mystery and adventure to be found in this one.

Adults will find this book fun to read as well. I highly recommend it!

Plague Ship by Clive Cussler

I just finished reading the huge adventure story, Plague Ship, by Clive Cussler. I have always loved Dirk Pitt and all his quirky sidekicks, so I was willing to try his new action Adventure hero, Juan Cabrillo. The story follows most of the Cussler outlines.

As always, there is some sort of prologue that takes you back 1/2 a century or more to the beginnings of whatever disaster you're about to find in the present day. (After all, nothing happens in a vaccuum. ) Then abruptly you're thrust into the regular story, which in this case is as Cabrillo (the chairman) is about to steal two, vastly superior Russian made torpedoes from the Iranians. All this to set the stage for the rest of the book, which centers on a cult group, the Responsivists, that is seeking to reduce the population of the world by 3/4 or more. They plan on doing this by releasing a virus that will make it impossible for the general population to reproduce. Lets just say that it takes quite a bit of time to get that all figured out and there are several amazing chases, harrowing escapes, torture,murder and other 'fun' stuff so typical of Clive Cussler as you finally are able to figure out what is going on. One definitely has to suspend belief as you travel through this story. All in all, though it is fun to have a super hero who has these amazing super powers and who above all, hate evil and injustice. It's just that unlike the rest of us they actually have the ability to do something about it.

If you're a Cussler fan, you'll enjoy this no matter what. And if you've never read any of his books before, well, start with something a bit easier (to swallow that is)...like his book Sahara or Raise the Titanic. I give this book a tentative thumbs up.

Books and Work

I have been so full of activity of late, I haven't had much time to finish any reading. I am currently working on "Having a Mary Heart in a Martha World" and "Plague Ship" by Clive Cussler, and "Agincourt" by Bernard Cornwell. Plague Ship has me hooked and I'll no doubt finish that first, but more on that later.

The most exciting news is that our new catalog is up and running and accessible by you, the public from anywhere on the globe! By clicking on our "catalog" tab in our website you'll get straight to the catalog. I'd love to hear what you think of what you see and of what you find!

A Reading List. How Many Have You Read?

Here's a list that's making the rounds on facebook-It's the BBC reading list. The BBC apparently believes that most people will have read only 6 of the hundred from this list. I always wonder who makes up lists such as these, and how certain books end up on it. Why the Da Vinci Code. Horrible book, that. Or what about two seperate entries for 'The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe' and another one for the Chronicles of Narnia. That's 6 extra books counted as one, while one of the Chronicles books is counted as 1 entry. I think maybe they didn't read these either! Any way, you can Check to see how many you've read. Are there any on the list you liked? You can copy and past this into a word document if you like and do a tally. Put an X by the ones you've read and a + by those you loved.
1 Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen x
2 The Lord of the Rings - JRR Tolkien x
3 Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte x
4 Harry Potter series - JK Rowling x
5 To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee x
6 The Bible x
7 Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte x
8 Nineteen Eighty Four - George Orwell
9 His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman
10 Great Expectations - Charles Dickens x
11 Little Women - Louisa M Alcott x
12 Tess of the D’Urbervilles - Thomas Hardy
13 Catch 22 - Joseph Heller
14 Complete Works of Shakespeare
15 Rebecca - Daphne Du Maurier x
16 The Hobbit - JRR Tolkien x
17 Birdsong - Sebastian Faulk
18 Catcher in the Rye - JD Salinger /
19 The Time Traveller’s Wife - Audrey Niffenegger x
20 Middlemarch - George Eliot
21 Gone With The Wind - Margaret Mitchell
22 The Great Gatsby - F Scott Fitzgerald
23 Bleak House - Charles Dickens
24 War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy
25 The Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy Douglas Adams
26 Brideshead Revisited -Evelyn Waugh
27 Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoyevsky
28 Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck
29 Alice in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll
30 The Wind in the Willows - Kenneth Grahame x
31 Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy
32 David Copperfield - Charles Dickens x
33 Chronicles of Narnia - CS Lewis x
34 Emma - Jane Austen
35 Persuasion - Jane Austen
36 The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe - CS Lewis x
37 The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini x
38 Captain Corelli’s Mandolin - Louis De Bernieres
39 Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden /
40 Winnie the Pooh - AA Milne x
41 Animal Farm - George Orwell
42 The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown /
43 One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
44 A Prayer for Owen Meany - John Irving
45 The Woman in White - Wilkie Collins
46 Anne of Green Gables - LM Montgomery x
47 Far From The Madding Crowd - Thomas Hardy
48 The Handmaid’s Tale - Margaret Atwood
49 Lord of the Flies - William Golding x
50 Atonement - Ian McEwan
51 Life of Pi - Yann Martel x
52 Dune - Frank Herbert /
53 Cold Comfort Farm - Stella Gibbons
54 Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen
55 A Suitable Boy - Vikram Seth
56 The Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafon
57 A Tale Of Two Cities - Charles Dickensx
58 Brave New World - Aldous Huxley
59 The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time - Mark Haddon x
60 Love In The Time Of Cholera - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
61 Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck
62 Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov
63 The Secret History - Donna Tartt
64 The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold
65 Count of Monte Cristo - Ale andre Dumas /
66 On The Road - Jack Kerouac
67 Jude the Obscure - Thomas Hardy
68 Bridget Jones’s Diary - Helen Fielding
69 Midnight’s Children - Salman Rushdie
70 Moby Dick - Herman Melville
71 Oliver Twist - Charles Dickens x
72 Dracula - Bram Stoker
73 The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson Burnett x
74 Notes From A Small Island - Bill Bryson
75 Ulysses - James Joyce
76 The Inferno - Dante
77 Swallows and Amazons - Arthur Ransome
78 Germinal - Emile Zola
79 Vanity Fair - William Makepeace Thackeray
80 Possession - AS Byatt
81 A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens x
82 Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell
83 The Color Purple - Alice Walker
84 The Remains of the Day - Kazuo Ishiguro
85 Madame Bovary - Gustave Flaubert
86 A Fine Balance - Rohinton Mistry /
87 Charlotte’s Web - EB White x
88 The Five People You Meet In Heaven - Mitch Albom /
89 Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
90 The Faraway Tree Collection - Enid Blyton
91 Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad x
92 The Little Prince - Antoine De Saint-dE upery
93 The Wasp Factory - Iain Banks
94 Watership Down - Richard Adams /
95 A Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy Toole
96 A Town Like Alice - Nevil Shute x
97 The Three Musketeers - Alexandre Dumas
98 Hamlet - William Shakespeare
99 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - Roald Dahl x
100 Les Miserables - Victor Hugo x

I've read 31 on this list, unless you count a few of the ones that I've started and absolutely hated and wouldn't finish (like the DaVinici Code) then I have more like 40. But out of those 31 I have absolute loved at least half. I will put Maragaret Atwood's Handmaid's Tale and Douglas Adams Hitchhiker's guide on my 'to read' list. How about you?

The Rope Walk

I finally finished "The Rope Walk" by Carrie Brown. It's this year's ALL IOWA READS choice. It ended up being a very satisfying book and I'm really glad I finished it. But let me tell you, it took nearly 2 months for me to get to the end of the book. I was bogged down at the beginning by the overwhelming amount of description that Brown used in the form of similes and metaphors. That put me off a bit. I would be interested to see if her other book is similar in that regard.
The story centers around a ten year old girl, a young mixed race boy who is staying with the family through an unusual set of circumstances, and a man dying of Aids. The book deals with the dynamics between the three unlikely characters. We see the world as young Alice sees it. And she begins to discover that the world isn't always a very nice place, that ugliness can exsist even in the middle of very beautiful places. The events of the story take place over one summer and it is remeniscent of many childhood summers. The story is about friendship, self realization, and a growing awareness of self in the world. It surely wasn't my usual murder mystery but I enjoyed it nonetheless. I would recommend this read!

Theft and the Library

Have you heard the news about the woman who was arrested for not returning an overdue book? It's made quite the story nationally and especially among the Iowa library community. While the Le Mars library has not made any attempts to have the police recover overdue books we are not immune to our patrons walking off and never returning or paying for lost materials. I wonder if our patrons realize that a refusal to return borrowed books after being overdue for 2 months is considered by Iowa law to be theft. So we send out overdue notices; we send certified letters; we call. We visit with our overdue patrons. And we get discouraged because the value of our collection to everyone in the community goes down. Oh sure, there are always legitimate reasons why someone might not get a book back on time, but we're talking about not even making an attempt to make it right with the library. That institution you promised you were only "borrowing" the book from. It's not the library who is losing, it's you the Patron who is losing. I don't know, maybe you don't mind giving $15 dollars away every time you turn around. As in, Multiply this one lady by many such ladies in every library in the state several times a month and perhaps you have a better idea of why this particular library would be so intent on getting their materials back!

Aunt Dimity Series by Nancy Atherton

Here's a mystery series that is quite nice. Cozy. Comfortable. Well, maybe on the side of 'chic flick' but very nice nonetheless. The series I'm talking about is the Aunt Dimity series by Nancy Atherton. I read Aunt Dimity beats the Devil. While Aunt Dimity didn't actually show up in the story until nearly 3/4 of the way through, the main character, Lori Shepherd was there throughout. I almost always think that it doesn't matter where you start in any given series because generally you get all the details you need to know about characters and events as you go along. I think I would have done better to have at least read the first book, but alas the Le Mars library doesn't have it. At any rate, the story, as with all the Aunt Dimity books, is set in England. Lori is on her way to a restored castle, Wyrdhurst Hall to catalog a collection of rare books. The trip, the hall, the residents are full of surprises. Some pleasant, others not so pleasant. There's a charming handsome stranger, ghosts, and a series of WWI letters that involve a mysterious romance. It is a very easy read book and...I read it without cheating by looking at the end of the book. That's always hard for me, but the ending was a nice surprise! This is a series I highly recommend.

Walking Beans Wasn't Something You Did with Your Dog

The Library recently added a book of short stories called Walking Beans wasn't something you did with your dog. This is a book of short stories written by authors from Iowa, Minnesota, Nebraska, Illinois and beyond. It contains stories of growing up in and around small towns in the Midwest. If you live near Le Mars you'll be able to identify with stories about pet pigs, milking cows or snowball fights with the neighbor boys. (or girls) One of the Authors of these stories, Arlene Walker, will be visiting the Library early in February, Feb. 10 from 4:30-5:30 to share with us and to sign books. This is part of our Winter Reading program for adults so be sure to stop in!