What We're Readin' and Watchin'

2007-07-06T13:37:00.000-04:00

Title: In the Company of Soldiers
Author: Rick Atkinson

Your thoughts:
This is an excellent account by an embedded reporter from the Washington Post of the initial days of the invasion of Iraq, post-9/11. Atkinson provides profiles of the various generals, colonels and “regular soldiers,” but he is directly attached to General Petraeus and the 101st Airborne Division. Petraeus is presently the four-star in charge of all US forces in Iraq, so it’s very interesting to see a profile of him during the initial invasion, with the attendant problems and snafus. And, in light of what’s transpired in the last 4 years, it’s illuminating to be reminded of who said what when. Not light reading, but very interesting. jpq

Waiting for Harry

2007-06-27T15:57:00.000-04:00

While you wait for the Harry Potter book come out try this daily trivia game.

Get this and other HP countdowns at LeakyNews.com

Enjoy!

-vicky

Memory Keeper's Daughter

2007-06-27T12:48:00.000-04:00

Title: Memory Keeper's Daughter
Author: Kim Edwards

Edwards does a beautiful job of showing the reader what a secret can do to a family. The secret built a wall between the parents. The keeper of the secret hid behind it and the other kept trying to get around or through a wall she could not see or understand but knew it was there. The secret kept them from truly knowing each other. The children could not connect with their parents because of the walls between and around the parents.

Of course I enjoyed the parts of the book about photography but I could also relate to all the characters because none were perfect. The father was remote and closed. The mom was in pain with no one to comfort her. The nurse who was the most caring and giving had some mixed motives for doing what she did.

-vicky

The Sister by Paola Kaufmann

2007-06-19T11:19:00.001-04:00

Title: The Sister: A Novel of Emily Dickinson
Author: Paola Kaufmann

Your thoughts:
I highly recommend this book, especially to anyone remotely interested in Emily Dickinson. The story is told from the perspective of Lavinia Dickinson, Emily's sister. Lavinia writes at the end of her life, remembering memories of her sister as well as other family members. Kaufmann offers a very interesting perspective of the Dickinson family in her extremely well-researched and well-crafted book. Another nice touch is that Emily Dickinson's poems appear at the beginning of almost every chapter and set a lovely tone for the piece.

Flight by Sherman Alexie

2007-06-14T20:56:00.000-04:00

Title: Flight
Author: Sherman Alexie

Your thoughts:
Sherman Alexie is an incredible author and his most recent novel, Flight, is a reflection of his remarkable ability. To me, Alexie is most effective as a poet and short story writer (he is also a very talented screenwriter, as anyone who has seen Smoke Signals can attest), but his novels are also well worth the read. His style, though, may not appeal to some readers.

Flight tells the story of a half-white, half-Spokane Indian teenage boy called Zits. He has spent the great majority of his life in the foster care system and has known little other than abuse, neglect, disappointment, and hurt. During a recent stay in jail, Zits is befriended by a cellmate who has named himself Justice. As a result of this "friendship," Zits walks into a bank with a gun in one hand and a paint gun in the other and opens fire. Immediately after doing so, however, he is transported back in time and into the body of an FBI agent. This experience in time travel is the first of many that will make Zits confront his own violent acts. By forcing Zits to see the violence in the world and in himself, Alexie is also forcing the reader to confront the difficult history of violence that has long been a part of America's relationship with its indigenous peoples. The story ends with the hope that redemption, for Zits and perhaps even the world, may be possible after all.

2007-05-30T20:18:00.000-04:00

Title: Motif for Murder: A Scrapbooking Mystery
Author: Laura Childs

Your thoughts:
Laura Childs is a new author to me; she was recommended to me by my friend because I love mysteries and scrapbooking. The main character, Carmen, has just reconciled with her husband. He is kidnapped from their kitchen one morning, and his uncle is murdered. Carmen and her friend get caught up in trying to find Carmen's husband and finding the uncle's murderer. In between running all around New Orleans trying to solve the mystery and parties, she runs a scrapbooking store. She keeps busy and sane by working on scrapping projects in her store. At the end of the book she gives directions for the scrapping projects she does in her shop and recipes for all the dinners and food she prepares. Laura Childs also writes a tea shop mystery series.

Chris

Rome, the First Complete Season

2007-05-24T19:13:00.000-04:00

Title: Rome, the first complete season
Author:

Your thoughts:
My friend let me borrow this DVD set. This was excellent! I don't know why Newington doesn't own this. I don't remember my Ancient History class being this exciting. There are plots and intrigues, love and war!! My husband and I both enjoyed watching this. My only disappointing moment was that there was no "et tu, Brute." I'm also happy to say that when this movie starts, it's the same time period as the mystery Rubicon that I read a couple of months ago.

Chris

Expected One

2007-05-16T16:25:00.000-04:00

Title: The Expected One
Author: Kathleen McGowan

I could not put this book down. If you liked the DaVinci Code, you'll like this. The main character is Maureen Paschal who has vivid dreams of Mary Magdalene. As the story unfolds, she discovers information about her father. She travels to France and investigates the history of Mary Magdalene. This is a wonderful book, and I encourage you to read it. I have been recommending this to all my friends.

Chris

2007-04-10T15:41:00.000-04:00

The Eighth Day
John Case

Danny Cray is an artist and part-time investigator. Danny gets a call for a job and the story goes from there. I could not put this book down. It's a fast-paced thriller that takes place all over the world. If you like thrillers and suspense, you'll love this.

Chris

2007-04-10T15:34:00.000-04:00

Crisis
Robin Cook

I listened to this on CD. A doctor is being sued for malpractice. The doctor's wife asks her brother, a medical examiner, to help her husband out. During the brother-in-law's investigation, he discovers how the patient really died. It's a good read.

Chris

Harry Potter #7

2007-03-28T15:29:00.000-04:00

Title: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
Author: J.K. Rowling

This is the U.S. cover to the last Harry Potter book due out in July. It's the first time Voldemort is on the cover and many people say this does not bode well for Harry. Here are some of the latest Harry links:

http://www.the-leaky-cauldron.org/gallery/dhus

http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/article/CA6428708.html

Can't wait!

Helen

p.s. look in our summer newsletter for a special library Harry event on July 20-21!

7 UP, 7 Plus 7, 21 UP, 28 UP ...

2007-03-27T20:29:00.000-04:00

Title: Up series
Director: Michael Apted

I am crazy about this series. Apted has filmed a group of English people from age 7 to age 49. I love it because they are my age and went through some of the same things I did at those ages. And it's I love learning about a different culture. Of course the story can't help but look at class in English society. I do wonder what each one of them will be doing at 49.

It's also a neat history of film making. It's great to watch film making evolve and see the film styles of the eras.

We have 49 UP but you have to start at the beginning with 7 UP.

If you want them I'll get them for you.

-vicky

2007-03-23T12:10:00.000-04:00

Title: Isle of Woman
Author: Piers Anthony

I haven't read anything by Piers Anthony in years. This was interesting. Piers Anthony tackles a big project when he wrote this book. He tells this story about 2 different families by going through history since the beginning of time. Each chapter focuses on one moment in time--cave paintings, using tools, creating tools, war--with one family and continues with the other family in the next chapter. I found it fascinating and more interesting than reading an ancient history book.

Chris

Keeping Faith

2007-03-22T09:26:00.000-04:00

Title: Keeping Faith
Author: Jodi Picoult

An intense drama, this book held my interest right to the end. The mother, Mariah, develops into a strong woman as a result of working through several challenges. Her little girl, Faith, experiences God in remarkable ways. How the family deals with the media and the related privacy issues add more tension to the story.

-CP

2007-03-20T16:03:00.000-04:00

Title: Plague Tales
Author: Ann Benson

I really enjoyed this book. It's a great story about 2 different people in 2 different times: a future time in London and a past time in the 14th century. It's about the Bubonic plague. Even the future London cannot combat the Plague with antibiotics!! I loved how Benson wrote about court life in London; her historical descriptions are vivid. She varied her chapters: one chapter was in the 14th century and the next in future times. Ann Benson has also written beading books.

Chris

Everything is Illuminated

2007-03-14T10:49:00.000-04:00

Title: Jonathan Safran Foer
Author: Everything is Illuminated

Jonathan Safran Foer uses three voices in this book. One of a translator writing to his client back in the United State. The second is the same translator writing the story of their journey together and the third is the client back in the states writing his personal history which he discovered on his journey with the translator. I enjoyed the contrast of the mythic proportions of the historical story with the down to earth details of the journey. Its a very different book and I recommend it if you are looking for something new and different to read.

The Project Museum. What do you think of this site?

-vicky

Alive and Dead in Indiana

2007-02-27T17:43:00.000-05:00

Title: Alive and Dead in Indiana
Author: Michael Martone

A friend said "they're funny and touching, i think, and the metaphorical constructs are intricate, even delicate. the play between midwestern obscurity and down-to-earthness and overweening fame/notoriety is strange and hilarious." But I can't see it. The stories are different and weird so if you want something new and different try these stories.

-vicky

Online Book Clubs

2007-02-27T17:41:00.000-05:00

Do you want a little taste of a book before you pick it up at the library or put it on hold?

Look for the Online Book Clubs logo on our website to link to the book clubs or click on the link below. You can sample 1-11 new books each week with our new Online Book Clubs.

After you read some of the book you can go to our catalog and see if it's in or place a hold on it.

You can also visit an online discussion group and talk with other people all over the country who are reading the first few chapters of the book you are reading.

The clubs start on Monday. Each day you will receive an email with a portion of this weeks book for each club you have joined.

Try it out and please let us know what you think.

-vicky

Rubicon: A Novel of Ancient Rome

2007-02-22T18:01:00.000-05:00

Title: Rubicon: A Novel of Ancient Rome
Author: Steven Saylor

Your thoughts:
I really enjoyed this book. I love mysteries and historical novels. Although this author is new to me, I found his easy to read. Pompey asks Gordianus the Finder to find the murderer of one of Pompey's slaves. Pompey takes Gordianus' son-in-law into his army to ensure that Gordianus will solve the case. This was great! Gordianus meets up with Marc Antony, Caesar and Cicero as he travels through Italy. This would be great to ILL!

Chris

Fast Forward

2007-01-23T19:56:00.000-05:00

Title: Fast Forward
Editor: Lou Anders

At the LRW Library we have a bi-weekly book meeting. The next one is tomorrow so I was preparing for it by reviewing the journals and picking books to buy. This book was listed. It looked good and other's had suggested we buy it as well. Then coincidence steps in and as i am reading my blogs tonight i find an entry about the book in Boing Boing. Here's Cory Doctorow's take on this new SF collection.

-vicky

Grey's Anatomy-Season Two

2007-01-19T11:56:00.000-05:00

Title: Grey's Anatomy

This series just gets better and better. The characters are smart, charming and oh so human. The stories are interesting. When was the last time you watched a hospital drama that didn't save everyone it operated on? Anyone else out there hooked on Grey's?

ABC website

Fan Site

Discussion Group

-vicky

World's Fair

2007-01-19T11:22:00.000-05:00

Title: World's Fair
Author: E.L. Doctorow

World's Fair received the 1986 National Book Award.

Answer.com says "World's Fair. Set during the 1939 World's Fair, the novel focuses on a young boy growing up in the Bronx and a world still coming out of the Depression, poised on the eve of World War II. It includes a loving picture of home life, a sense of secure domesticity that is relatively rare in the annals of great American fiction."

I absolutely disagree with the last sentence. Through out the story I felt a sense that the domestic life could crumble at any moment.

I enjoyed reading about NYC during the 1939 World's Fair.

-vicky

Housekeeping

2006-12-27T19:48:00.000-05:00

Title: Housekeeping
Author: Marilynn Robinson

This book title was ironic. The main character did not have a knack for housekeeping in the traditional sense but just the opposite. Yet she tried to do what housekeeping symbolizes - keeping a family together. Do you think she succeeded?

There is a reader's guide to this book for those of you who may want to read it in a book discussion group.

I enjoyed this book and would recommend it to anyone who wants to read a good story.

-vicky

Grey's Anatomy

2006-12-12T20:39:00.000-05:00

Grey's Anatomy

I must be the last woman on the face of the earth to watch Gray's Anatomy and Dr. McDreamy!!! I have seen the first three episodes. It's witty, intelligent and informative. I am enjoying the characters more each episode. This could be a winner. By the way Dr. McDreamy is not my cup of tea!

-vicky

Some Best Books of 2006 lists

2006-12-09T14:53:00.000-05:00

Mark Flanagan from About.com literary section suggest 10 books from 2006. If you like me you are still on the waiting list for Stephen King's Lisey's Story! I can't believe I haven't read any books on this list! I think I'll go check out Interpretation of Murder by Jed Rubenfeld.

The Washington Post list 10 books for children. Of course you must read Here Lies the Librarian; a book proported to kill off the sterotype of the typical bunned and shushing librarian!

Book World picks there 10 best. After This may well be one of the best books of 2006 but I don't think it's Alice McDermott's best book. I loved Child of My Heart.

ALA's list of best books for Young Adults.

-vicky

New take on an old joke!

2006-12-05T11:38:00.000-05:00

Title: Why Did the Chicken Cross the Road?
Author: Many EGG-cellent Illustrators!

Your thoughts:
Here's your chuckle for the week! 14 EGGS-tremely talented illustrators have their own take on why the chicken did indeed cross the road. Included are Caldecott Medal winner Chris Raschka, Mo Willems (Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus) and Jerry Pinkney. It's sure to CRACK you up!

Plot Against America

2006-12-04T11:29:00.000-05:00

Title: Plot Against America
Author: Philip Roth

This is very timely material although the story is set just before WWII. I have never read Philip Roth before. I know a big hole in my reading resume. However, this book did not grab my attention. It should have. I have a strong commitment to social justice for all people. I believe in personal freedoms and the bill of rights. Orwell's 1984 made we want to change the world. this book just made me glad it was over.

My Cedar Mountain Commons book discussion group will talk about it next Monday. Maybe they can help me appreciate this story.

-vicky

Vacation Reading

2006-10-24T20:50:00.000-04:00

I have been away on vacation for the past two weeks and had some time to read. Some of the books I read are listed below. As I catch up here at work I will tell you more about them.

Title: Small Island
Author: Andrea Levy

excellent

If you want to know what it feels like to be in someone else's skin. Read this book. Andrea Levy does a wonderful job of telling the story of Jamaican immigrants to England just after WWII.

School Library Journal's review

Black Issues Book Review has a long informative article about the book and the author, Andrea Levy.

Title: Mission Song
Author: John Le Carre

good
Suspenseful, timely and well written as ever with John Le Carre.

New York Times Book Review

Title: Never End
Author: Ake Edwardson

very good

Title: Garden of Eden and other Criminal Delights
Author: Faye Kellerman

bad. Her recent books are no where near as interesting and her first three or four. Very trite and filled with cliches. I miss the early emphasis on her jewish heritage.

That Night

2006-10-04T11:49:00.000-04:00

Title: That Night
Author: Alice McDermott

Alice McDermott took me back to my suburban childhood in this disturbing story of young love. I remember the gossip, the pressure of everyone watching you and knowing your business as well as the comfort of everyone knowing you and watching your business! She captures the feeling of being a child and knowing something is wrong but not quite understanding exactly what all the fuss is about. I have read Child of My Heart and am reading After This so far That Night is my favorite.

Read an interview with her at Powell's .

Girl Named Zippy (sound recording)

2006-10-04T11:43:00.000-04:00

Title: Girl Named Zippy
Author: Haven Kimmel

Charming, funny story of life in the mid-west in the mid to late 60's. Zippy childlike and sometimes wise observations of life growing up the youngest of three. She is brashly honest about her feelings good and bad. Her observations of adult life bring a fresh view to humanity. This book made me laugh and think! A great combination.

- vicky

Secret Life of Bees (Sound Recording)

2006-09-28T09:27:00.000-04:00

Title: Secret Life of Bees
Author: Sue Monk Kidd

I may be the last person on the earth to read, well listen to, The Secret Life of Bees. Jenna Lamia did a wonderful job of reading this book. She convinced me she was a young girl from the south as well as the other women of various ages through out the book. She got out of the way and let the story tell itself.

This is a great story. Sue Monk Kidd brings us to the South just as the Civil Rights Act has passed. Lily runs away from home with her maid and lives with the "calendar" sisters. Her experiences with these loving accepting women make a charming coming of age story.

-vicky

The 5th Horseman

2006-09-20T14:38:00.000-04:00

Title: The 5th Horseman
Author: James Patterson

During the summer, I listened to James Patterson’s Fifth Horseman on cassette. It’s the fifth mystery in Patterson’s Women’s Murder Club series. Lieutenant Lindsay Boxer, along with members of the murder club investigate deaths of patients at San Francisco Medical Center. The mysteries in this series are great audio books. The reader does a great job, and the action and suspense of the story keep me interested to the end.

If you are interested in reading or listening to this series, be sure to start with the first book, 1st To Die.

Sue S.

P.S. I Love You

2006-09-20T13:21:00.000-04:00

Title: P.S. I Love You
Author: Cecelia Ahern

I read P.S. I Love You about a year ago, but it I still find myself thinking about this sweet story. After Holly’s husband dies of cancer, she receives a packet of letters he wrote to help her get through the year after his death. She follows his suggestions each month and finds herself slowly healing due to the adventures her husband planned for her during the 1st awful year after his passing. What a sweet man!

This is Cecelia Ahern’s first novel. If she can write such a great story at 22 years old, I’m certainly looking forward to the rest of her work.

Sue S.

"Child of My Heart" by Alice McDermott

2006-09-19T18:17:00.000-04:00

Title: Child of My Heart
Author: Alice McDermott

Powells.com interview with Alice McDermott about Child of My Heart.

Why is it that a good book can be ruined by a bad or sloppy ending. Alice McDermott took me to the Long Island shore. I could hear the waves, feel the grit of the sand on my feet and the warmth of the sun on my shoulders. Her writing is beautiful. However the end of the book was a disappointment. Why is it that authors often fail with the ending?

I haven't given up on Alice McDermott. A friend suggested I read That Night and said I would find it was her best work. He said that in this book she played for the audience which she usually does not do.

Time will tell

-vicky

You're Not You by Michelle Wildgen

2006-09-16T16:44:00.000-04:00

Title: You're Not You
Author: Michelle Wildgen

I enjoyed this book. Wildgen's first book shows how life takes you in unexpected directions. Each character's life takes an unexpected turn. If you are a food lover you will enjoy the descriptions of Bec cooking.

For a different opinion read Erin Frenhoffer's review.

-vicky

A Woman in Jerusalem

2006-09-06T13:13:00.000-04:00

Title: A Woman in Jerusalem
Author: A.B. Yehoshua

I picked up this book my hope was to be an armchair traveler to Jerusalem. I lived and studied in Jerusalem for a summer. The book turned out to be very different from what I expected. It is a story of war, terrorism and redemption that is more about what happens inside people than what is happening in Jerusalem. Although the book was not what I expected I was not disappointed.
- vicky

Light From Heaven (Sound Recording)

2006-08-31T09:49:00.000-04:00

Title: Light From Heaven
Author: Jan Karon

Ah to escape to Meadowbrook Farm for a couple of weeks drive time with the wonderful John McDonough to read to me. If only all faith based communities or all communities period were this warm, loving and accepting of each other. The world would be a lovely as Jan Karon's Mitford. A joyful, loving visit with Father Tim and gang as Father Tim opens a long closed mountain church.
Escape to Mitford for a bit.

-vicky

The 26th Man

2006-08-29T17:06:00.000-04:00

Title: The 26th Man
Author: Steve Fireovid and Mark Winegardner

Very engaging story of a minor league pitcher's year near the end of his career. Steve Fireovid a High School star pitcher wrote a diary of his year, 1990, with the Indianapolis Indians. He was in his 30s and deciding whether or not to continue his career as a minor league pitcher.

I became so involved in his story that I contacted his co-author Mark Winegardner to find out "the rest of the story."

Warning warning warning - major plot details revealed.

From Mark Winegardner:
Fire didn't quit in April, of course; he just got sent down.He played in 1993 in the minors and -- intentionally to pound a stake through the heart of this career -- he went to camp in 1994 as a replacement player with the Marlins. He had friends there, on the field an in the front office, and he played well and had fun, but, unlike such teammates as Kevin Millar, he was too old to outlive the taint of having crossed a picket line that would never benefit him, and when the strike was settled, he hung 'em up.He's working as a stockbroker back home now.

If you read this book do you agree that he was as talented as may major league pitchers and didn't get the right breaks or do you think he was just not good enough? Love to hear your reactions.

-vicky

Next Stop Wonderland - Video

2006-08-25T14:48:00.000-04:00

Title: Next Stop Wonderland
Starring: Hope Davis, Alan Gelfant

Very charming and light romantic comedy. The plus of this movie is it's location. If you love Boston and the surrounding burbs like I do then you will enjoy visiting your favorite city as you watch this movie. Revere Beach never looked so lovely as it did in this movie. I just want to know where were all the bikini clad women with high heels and behives?

Brad Anderson, the director and writer, is a Connecticut boy - born in Madison.

See what Rotten Tomatoes has to say!

- vicky

The Lighthouse by P.D. James

2006-08-25T12:55:00.000-04:00

Title: The Lighthouse Sound Recording
Author: P.D. James
Reader: Charles Keating

Dagleish solving the murder from his SARS sick bed was just too much reality to suspend. Fly me to Mars, take me 30 or 30,000 years into the future, introduce me to aliens even show me a happy marriage. :-) All of these I can believe but please don't ask me to believe Dagliesh fighting for his life was more capable of solving the crime than his two subordinates. Does he have such an ego he can't let them shine just once? I was disappointed that Kate and Benton were not allowed to solve this one themselves.

James does a good job setting the scene and capturing the place. Her characters are multidimensional all though sometimes a little too transparent.

I think she's done a better in her previous work.

-vicky

Stop Walking on Eggshells

2006-08-21T14:57:00.000-04:00

Title: Stop Walking on Eggshells: Taking Your Life Back When Someone You Care about Has Borderline Personality Disorder
Author: Paul Mason, Randi Kreger

This book has changed my internal life and my external life. A family member has BPD (Borderline Personality Disorder) and the psychiatrist in charge of the case recommended this book. This book is about letting go of the idea that you can fix the person you love. This book is about setting limits to the person's behavior to protect yourself mentally and physically. This book is about stepping back and not taking the person's accusations and hurtful remarks, personally. After reading Stop Walking on Eggshells I no longer felt guilty when I had to say no to the person in my life to protect my mental health, or my finances. I have stopped bailing the person out and letting the person experience the consequences of her/his actions. And I understand the person behavior much better now.

I would recommend this book to anyone who has a family member or loved one that suffers from BPD. I would also recommend this book to anyone with someone in their life who has a recurring problem.

-vicky

IT HAPPENS EVERY SPRING

2006-08-19T13:37:00.000-04:00

Title: It Happens Every Spring

Quirky baseball, sci fi and romance movie. Poor professor falls in love with the deans daughter. Won't marry her until he can 'support her in the manner she's been accustomed to'. His experiment to make wood repel termites fails but a baseball lands in the solution and then the baseball repels wood! We can guess what happens but it's still a fun baseball movie!

-vicky

Life of Pi

2006-08-18T11:11:00.000-04:00

Title: Life of Pi
Author: Yann Martel

This book was different that any other title I usually read. I decided to read this because it is being read in book groups, and lots of our patrons have reserved this.

It is the fantastic story of young Pi Patel, adrift on the Pacific Ocean, with his only companion a Bengal tiger named Richard Parker (the tiger has 'taken care of' any other survivors on the lifeboat).

Ti and Richard endure many hardships together on their journey. The story is touching, funny, fantastic, and truly a pleasure to read. Martel's images of Pi's thirst, hunger, and true suffering are vivid.

Was Pi's tale true? Readers will have the pleasure of finding out.

Killer Instinct

2006-08-16T15:29:00.000-04:00

Title: Killer Instinct
Author: Joseph Finder

This is by far the best book I read this summer! Well, it doesn't take much to beat Barron's How to Prepare for the GRE, which I read cover to cover 3 times this summer. Seriously, I enjoyed Finder's Killer Instinct. In fact, I'd give this book 4 stars out of 5. It starts off a little slow, but as the plot develops the suspense grows!

Jason Steadman is a salesman until Kurt, a new friend and an ex–Special Forces soldier, helps him climb the corporate ladder. As Jason gets promoted, mysterious accidents begin happening. Suddenly Jason finds himself in a situation spiraling out of control. The result is an engrossing, suspenseful story that takes place in a business setting.

If you enjoy business thrillers, be sure to check out Finder's Paranoia too!

Sue S.

In a Sunburned Country

2006-08-14T10:08:00.000-04:00

Title: In a Sunburned Country
Author: Bill Bryson

Go to Australia. Don't go to Australia. Bill Bryson alternately flamed my desire to see this interesting and diverse country/continent and then quickly threw buckets of water on it. His description of the warm and friendly people, the diverse landscape and the interesting sights made we want to pack my bag for a year and go to Australia. Then in the next sentence he dashes all my dreams and describes some unbearably poisonous creature. eewww!

As always Bryson is entertaining, funny and finds the most unusual places on his travels. Sit down with this great book and visit Australia at least you'll avoid the box jellyfish!

-vicky

World Away

2006-08-10T16:21:00.000-04:00

Title: World Away
Author: Stewart O'Nan

This is a good summer read.

Drop in on the Langers for a summer during the second world war. Anne, James and and their younger son Jay spend the summer at James' father's home on the shore. James' father is dying. Their older son Rennie has gone to war. Rennie's new bride, Dorothy, is pregnant and living on the other side of the country in California. You will step into their lives at the beginning of the summer on the ride to the beach house and leave them on the drive back home. O'Nan makes you feel as if you are dropped into the middle of their lives like a summer visitor. He gives you enough backstory to understand the characters but leaves some mystery, as if you were a visitor and didn't know all the family history. I love his "slice of life" novels.

As always his writing is compassionate and understanding. Dorothy ponders about her mother that "Their love was an argument, she thought, that she would always lose." With less than 15 words O'Nan brings the fears, hopes, battles and regrets of the mother daughter relationship to the reader's mind. My first thought was "That's me and my mother" . My second, even more fearful, thought was "I hope my daughters don't feel that way about me!"
O'Nan again presents the idea that we cannot understand what happens to a person when he goes to war. His vivid descriptions of war only serve to make me feel that I cannot comprehend going through that and remaining sane. It's interesting too that Rennie is a medic and Larry in Names of the Dead is also a medic. Any thoughts why he does that?

I think you will enjoy this book. It's full of life and rich emotions.

Nancy Pearl in Library Journal, 03630277, 7/1/2005, Vol. 130, Issue 12 says of A World Away -
Displaying a keen sense of time and place depicts an eventful and sad summer in the lives of one American family set against the backdrop of World War II. Former high school teacher James Langer returns to his boyhood home in the Hamptons with his wife, Anne, to care for James's dying father. Their oldest son, Rennie, is in the medical corps aboard ship off the coast of Alaska. Struggling with the fallout from an affair James had with a student, Anne alternates caring for her father-in-law with working at the nearby military hospital, while James is employed at the Grumman plant.

Read Library Journal's review - 05/01/98

NYT Book Review reminded me how this book took me back to the 1943 and war time America with movie plots and the jar of grease in the fridge. The details that set the book in the time period show O'Nan's extensive research.

-vicky

Pretty Birds

2006-08-10T16:04:00.000-04:00

Title: Pretty Birds
Author: Scott Simon read by Christina Moore

What has war done to our world? If you have read "The Kite Runner" you'll remember one of the hardest things to read about was how much Afghanistan changed because of the war. "Pretty Birds" by NPR's Scott Simon not only tells of the decline of Sarajevo due to the Bosnian Serbian civil war but also of the physical, mental and emotional decline of the people. I listened to this on my commute to work and would often sit in the parking lot to hear just a little bit more. The story is told from a teenage girls perspective. She was an elite basketball player in her high school; well known in all of Sarajevo. I found it heart breaking what she went through and what she became as a result of the war.

Listen to Scott Simon talk about his book on NPR

I listened to this book on my commute. The reader was wonderful.

-vicky

Rainbows End

2006-08-10T15:55:00.000-04:00

Title: Rainbows End
Author: Vernor Vinge

Your thoughts: READ THIS BOOK! It's fantastic. I loved the story but most of all I loved the imagination of the future the author predicts. It's scary. boy I am not sure i would want to be plugged in all the time but it's also interesting how collaboration has increased. The collaborative world he imagines encourages people to share information and to help each other solve problems. at MPOW i wear a walkie talkie and a headset. at anytime i can call on my co-workers for assistance locating a book or if we need more help at the info desk.

Read what Vernor Vinge thinks about privacy

Trends the book explores.

Giving up privacy for accessUniversal/Continuous accessWearable computersBooks vs. Electronic accessWarSecurity vs. freedom and/or privacy
People said Arthur C Clark was crazy to predict a universal network of information connected through our televisions!

READ this book it might be your future!

See Superpatron's review of this book at his blog.

-vicky