Author: Lynne

Quick Read Classics

Lynne

Are you thinking of tackling a classic book this summer?  Not quite ready for War and Peace or Middlemarch?  How about a short classic?  Check out one of those well-known books you’ve always meant to read!  And all are under 200 pages!

The Postman Always Rings Twice by James M. Cain

This best-selling sensation when first published in 1934, is still one of the best, most important, and most interesting crime novels in the canon.

 

Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck

A controversial tale of friendship and tragedy during the Great Depression — and a gateway into the work of  Steinbeck.

 

 

Giovanni’s Room by James Baldwin

Set among the bohemian bars and nightclubs of 1950s Paris, this groundbreaking novel about love and the fear of love is “a book that belongs in the top rank of fiction.”

 

 

O Pioneers! by Willa Cather

The novel that first made Willa Cather famous–a powerfully mythic tale of the American frontier told through the life of one extraordinary woman.

 

 

Breakfast at Tiffany’s by Truman Capote

Holly Golightly knows that nothing bad can ever happen to you at Tiffany’s. In this seductive, wistful masterpiece, Capote created a woman whose name has entered the American idiom and whose style is a part of the literary landscape–her poignancy, wit, and naïveté continue to charm.

 

Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe

The most widely read book in modern African literature tells two overlapping, intertwining stories, both of which center around Okonkwo, a fearless Igbo warrior in Nigeria.

 

 

Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston

One of the most important and enduring works of the twentieth century.  A southern love story told with wit and pathos — perhaps one of the most widely read and highly acclaimed novel in the cannon of African-American literature.

 

The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald

F. Scott Fitzgerald’s third book, stands as the supreme achievement of his career. First published in 1925, this quintessential novel of the Jazz Age has been acclaimed by generations of readers.

 

Page 1The Girls of Slender Means by Muriel Spark

The girls of Spark’s novel live in the May of Teck Club in London, disturbed but not destroyed by WWII—both the Club, that is, and the girls.

Books on Books!

Lynne

All things books!  Books about books.  Books featuring libraries.  Every bibliophile knows the delight of finding a great new read,  and it’s especially fun to find a novel that features books in the plot, or a book that discusses great titles to discover.  Here’s a few titles that every book-lover might enjoy!

The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek by Kim Michele Richardson

This gem of a historical  features an indomitable heroine navigating a community steeped in racial intolerance. In 1936, 19-year-old Cussy Mary Carter works for the New Deal–funded Pack Horse Library Project, delivering reading material to the rural people of Kentucky. It’s a way of honoring her dead mother, who loved books, and it almost makes her forget the fact that her skin is blue, a family trait that sets her apart from the white community.

 

Booked to Die by John Dunning

Denver cop Cliff Janeway probably knows as much about books as he does about homicide.  His living room resembles an adjunct to the public library.  But when local book scout Bobby Westfall is murdered, Janeway is sure he knows who did it.  His detective talents are as important as his knowledge of books as he follows the twists and turns of this great mystery.  There are only four books in the Cliff Janeway series, but you’re sure to want to read them all.  Great stuff.

 

By Its Cover by Donna Leon

One afternoon, Commissario Guido Brunetti gets a frantic call from the director of a prestigious Venetian library. Someone has stolen pages out of several rare books. After a round of questioning, the case seems clear: the culprit must be the man who requested the volumes, an American professor from a Kansas university. The only problem–the man fled the library earlier that day, and after checking his credentials, the American professor doesn’t exist.

 

The Last Chance Library by Freya Sampson

Lonely librarian June Jones has never left the sleepy English village where she grew up. Shy and reclusive, the thirty-year-old would rather spend her time buried in books than venture out into the world. But when her library is threatened with closure, June is forced to emerge from behind the shelves to save the heart of her community and the place that holds the dearest memories of her mother.       …”a sweet testament to the power of reading, community, and the library.” — Booklist   

 

Mr. Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore by Robin Sloan

The Great Recession has shuffled Clay Jannon away from life as a San Francisco web-design drone and into the aisles of Mr. Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore. But after a few days on the job, Clay discovers that the store is more curious than either its name or its gnomic owner might suggest. The customers are few, and they never seem to buy anything–instead, they “check out” large, obscure volumes from strange corners of the store.

 

 

One for the Books by Joe Queenan

If you love books and reading, this is the book to check out.  At times, laugh out-loud funny as well as mordantly insightful, Queenan takes on all comers in his defense of reading and books.   He’s never one to shy away from expressing his opinions – whether it’s about libraries, bookstores, authors or that goliath, Middlemarch.  Along the way we learn about his life in books and where those books have led him in life.  I enjoyed it!

 

 

The Reading List by Sara Nisha Adams

Aleisha is a bright but anxious teenager working at the local library when she discovers a crumpled-up piece of paper in the back of To Kill a Mockingbird. It’s a list of novels that she’s never heard of before. Intrigued, she impulsively decides to read every book on the list, one after the other. As each story gives up its magic, the books transport Aleisha from the painful realities she’s facing at home.       “Readers will be charmed and touched.” – Publishers Weekly   

 

 

Tolstoy and the Purple Chair: My Year of Magical Reading by Nina Sankovitch

Grief-stricken by the loss of her sister, a mother of four spends one year savoring a great book every day, from Thomas Pynchon to Nora Ephron and beyond. In the tradition of Gretchen Rubin’s The Happiness Project and Joan Didion’s A Year of Magical Thinking, the author’s literary-minded memoir is a chronicle of loss, hope, and redemption. Nina turns to reading as therapy and through her journey illuminates the power of books to help us reclaim our lives.  Fascinating.

New Nonfiction Books- October 2011

Lynne

1493: Uncovering the New World Columbus Created
Charles C. Mann
909.4 MAN 2011
The author of 1491, explores the explosive changes that occurred following the discovery of the “new world.”

Absolute Monarchs: A History of the Papacy
John Julius Norwich
262.19 NOR 2011
A sweeping chronicle of the most significant popes and what they meant politically, culturally, and socially to Rome and to the world.

An Anatomy of Addiction: Sigmund Freud, William Halsted, and the Miracle Drug Cocaine
Howard Markel
362.29 MAR 2011
An astonishing account of the years-long cocaine use of Sigmund Freud as well as William Halsted, an innovative surgeon, both of who were practicing medicine at the same time in the 1880’s.

The End of Country
Seamus McGraw
333.79 MCG 2011
The author relates the story of Marcellus Shale discovery on the landowners of Susquehanna County, Pennsylvania. Topical and informative.

End Game: The End of the Debt Supercycle and How It Changes Everthing
John Mauldin and Jonathan Tepper
336.34 MAU 2011
What if the bigger financial crisis is ahead of us, not behind us?

Everything Is Obvious: Once You Know the Answer
Duncan J. Watts
153.4 WAT 2011
Does common sense fail us? Do we think we understand more about human behavior than we really do?

Forbidden Lessons in a Kabul Guesthouse: The True Story of a Woman Who Risked Everything to Bring Hope to Afghanistan
Suraya Sadeed
958.104 SAD 2011
The amazing life story of a woman, the daughter of a former governor of Kabul, who after living in the United States, returned to Afghanistan to deliver hope to orphans, refugees and women and girls.

Haiti After the Earthquake
Paul Farmer
972.94 FAR 2011
The noted physician who has worked in Haiti for nearly thirty years, describes the earthquake’s devastating impact on the impoverished country.

How Literature Works: 50 Key Concepts
John Sutherland
803 SUT 2011
Fun stuff for the literary-minded.

How to Click with People: The Secret to Better Relationships in Business and in Life
Rick Kirschner
158.2 KIR 2011
An interpersonal communications expert explains tips on relating to others and solving problems both in person and online.

I’m Feeling Lucky: The Confessions of Google Employee Number 59
Douglas Edwards
338.761 EDW 2011
One of Google’s early employees takes a trip inside the company that has changed the world.

Incognito: The Secret Lives of the Brain
David Eagleman
153 EAG 2011
If the conscious mind is just the tip of the iceberg, what is the rest of the brain doing?

The Interrogator: An Education
Glenn L. Carle
327.12 CAR 2011
An undercover CIA spy tells the story of his most serious assignment as an interrogator in the U.S. global war on terror.

The Last Gunfight: The Real Story of the Shootout at the O.K. Corral — And How it Changed the American West
Jeff Guinn
978.02 GUI 2011
On the afternoon of October 26, 1881, in Tombstone, Arizona a deadly shootout among eight armed men shaped how future generations came to view the old West.

Lincoln on War
Harold Holzer, ed.
973.7 LIN 2011
With his speeches, letters, and memoranda, President Lincoln fought the Civil War as brilliantly as any general who took the field.

Lip Service: Smiles in Life, Death, Trust, Lies, Work, Memory, Sex, and Politics
Marianne LaFrance
153.69 LAF 2011
A smile may not be quite as simple as it first appears. Smiles are indeed social acts with serious consequences.

Nothing Daunted: The Unexpected Education of Two Society Girls in the West
Dorothy Wickenden
371.1 WIC 2011
In the summer of 1916 two young society ladies leave their home in Auburn, New York for the wilds of Colorado to become teachers, to the shock and dismay of their families and friends.

Pirates of Somalia: Inside Their Hidden World
Jay Bahadur
364.164 BAH 2011
Caught up in a decades-long civil war, Somalia is one of the most dangerous countries in the world. Included in the country’s chaos is the scourge of piracy.

Saved by Beauty: Adventures of an American Romantic in Iran
Roger Housden
955 HOU 2011
The author traveled to Iran to meet with artists, writers, filmmakers, and religious scholars who embody the long Iranian tradition of humanism.

La Seduction: How the French Play the Game of Life
Elaine Sciolino 02.35 SCI 2011
Seduction is more than a game to the French: it is the key to understanding France.

Skyjack: The Hunt for D.B. Cooper
Geoffrey Gray
364.165 GRA 2011
The fascinating unsolved mystery of the man who parachuted into the wilds of the Pacific Northwest with $200,000 he had extorted from an airline.

Tangled Webs: How False Statements Are Undermining America from Martha Stewart to Bernie Madoff
James B. Stewart
364.134 STE 2011
The Pulitizer Prize-winning author asserts that America is facing a crisis of perjury and false statements occurring at the highest levels of business, politics, sports and culture.

Tolstoy and the Purple Chair: My Year of Magical Reading
Nina Sankovitch
028.9 SAN 2011
When the author’s older sister died at the age of forty-six, Nina Sankovitch turned to books for comfort, escape, and introspection.  Reading became the ultimate therapy.

Visions of a Better World: Howard Thurman’s Pilgrimage to India and the Origins of African American Nonviolence
Quinton Dixie and Peter Eisenstadt
303.61 DIX 2011
In 1935, Howard Thurman, an influential African American religious thinker took a pivotal trip to India that would forever change him and that would ultimately shape the course of the civil rights movement in the United States.

The Wild Life of Our Bodies: Predators, Parasites, and Partners that Shape Who We Are Today
Rob Dunn
612 DUN 2011
According to the author a professor of biology, our “clean living” has benefited us in some ways, but it has also made us sicker in others.

 

New Biographies – September 2011

Lynne

Big in China: My Unlikely Adventures Raising a Family, Playing the Blues, and Becoming a Star in Beijing
Alan Paul
B PAUL
When the author’s wife was offered the job as the Wall Street Journal’s China bureau chief, he saw it as an amazing opportunity to shake up their staid suburban life.

Cardboard Gods: An All-American Tale Told Through Baseball Cards
Josh Wilker
B WILKER
A baseball-haunted memoir that moves through the author’s coming-of-age through a collection of portraits of Topps baseball cards from 1974-1981.

The Churchills: In Love and War
Mary S. Lovell
B CHURCHILL
The extraordinary lives of the famous family, beginning with the first Duke of Marlborough (1650-1722), is recounted by a noted biographer.

Come to the Edge: A Memoir
Christina Haag
B HAAG
An account of the author’s life and relationship with the late John F. Kennedy, Jr.

Does the Noise in My Head Bother You: A Rock ‘n’ Roll Memoir
Steven Tyler
B TYLER
An old rocker remembers the good old days of “wretched excess in dandified duds.”

Every Day by the Sun: A Memoir of the Faulkners of Mississippi
Dean Faulkner Wells
B FAULKNER
An evocative portrait of the Faulkners of Mississippi and the family’s famous member, William Faulkner.

A Short Autobiography
F. Scott Fitzgerald
James L.W. West III, ed.
B FITZGERALD
The personal essays of the famous author are an intriguing look into his life and times.

Familyhood
Paul Reiser
B REISER
Following his two books, Couplehood and Babyhood, the author humorously shares his view from further down the road in life.

Finding Sarah: A Duchess’s Journey to Find Herself
Sarah Ferguson
B FERGUSON
The personal memoir of Sarah’s journey to “find herself” when her life became off course.

From This Moment On
Shania Twain
B TWAIN
The tumultuous life story of the well-known performer.

Good Stuff: A Reminiscence of My Father, Cary Grant
Jennifer Grant
B GRANT
The only child of the elegant, sophisticated actor reveals him as a loving father.

The Heart and the Fist: The Education of a Humanitarian, The Making of a Navy Seal
Eric Greitens
B GREITENS
The author relates the story of life, his humanitarian work, and his grueling training as a Navy Seal. The heart of his story is the paradox that sometimes you have to be strong to do good, but you also have to do good to be strong.

In Spite of Everything: A Memoir
Susan Gregory Thomas
B THOMAS
A brilliantly told account of a mother’s fight to protect her children’s world and make sense of her troubled past.

Malcolm X: A Life of Reinvention
Manning Marable
B X MALCOLM
The story of one of the most complex, multifaceted and controversial figures in the history of civil rights.

A Man from Another Land: How Finding My Roots Changed My Life
Isaiah Washington
B WASHINGTON
The actor shares his adventure as he searches for both his
American and African identity.

Modigliani: A Life
Meryle Secrest
B MODIGLIANI
Considered to be the quintessential bohemian artist, Modigliani’s legend is almost as infamous as Van Gogh’s.

My Lucky Life in and Out of Show Business
Dick Van Dyke
B VAN DYKE
One of the greats of the golden age of television presents his own heartwarming story.

My Year with Eleanor: A Memoir
Noelle Hancock
B HANCOCK
After losing her job, the author was crippled by anxiety, until she was inspired by a quote on a coffee shop chalkboard: “Do one thing every day that scares you.” – Eleanor Roosevelt.

The Paper Garden: An Artist {Begins Her Life’s Work} at 72
Molly Peacock
B DELANY
The wonderful story of Mary Granville Pendarves Delany (1700-1788) who created a new art form: mixed-media collage, and whose art works are now housed in the British Museum.

Reading My Father: A Memoir
Alexandra Styron
B STYRON
The story of a daughter who comes to know her father at last: William Styron, a noted author and a man whose devastating depression darkened the lives of his family.

Seal Team Six: Memoirs of an Elite Navy Seal Sniper
Howard E. Wasdin and Stephen Templin
B WASDIN
A behind-the-scenes look into the world of Navy SEALs and Special Forces snipers and the toughest military training in the world.

Season to Taste: How I Lost My Sense of Smell and Found My Way
Molly Birnbaum
B BIRNBAUM
As an aspiring chef, the author was devastated when an accident destroyed her sense of smell.  A look at an often overlooked sense.

A Singular Woman: The Untold Story of Barack Obama’s Mother
Janny Scott
B DUNHAM
The life story of an unconventional woman and whom President Obama has credited with “what is best in me.”

Small Memories
José Saramago
B SARAMAGO
The respected Portuguese writer presents a simple, yet affecting look into his boyhood and youth.

Stan Musial: An American Life
George Vecsey
B MUSIAL
A tribute to the great “Stan the Man.”

Stories I Only Tell My Friends: An Autobiography
Rob Lowe
B LOWE
After spending almost his entire in the public eye, the celebrity actor relates his story.

Through My Eyes
B TEBOW
Tim Tebow with Nathan Whitaker
The firsthand story of the young football quarterback’s rise to fame.

“21”: The Story of Roberto Clemente
Wilfred Santiago
B CLEMENTE
A graphic biographical story of the great and beloved baseball player and humanitarian.

Two Kisses for Maddy: A Memoir of Loss & Love
Matthew Logelin
B LOGELIN
The author describes his heartbreaking loss after the sudden death of his wife and his new life with his baby daughter, Madeline.

New Mysteries-September 2011

Lynne

Back of Beyond
C.J. Box
M BOX
Where do you go when there’s no turning back? Cody Hoyt is about to find out.

A Bad Day for Scandal
Sophie Littlefield
M LIT
A small-town mystery with a “funny and endearing heroine — with just a hint of Dirty Harry thrown in.”

Bad Intentions
Karin Fossum
M FOS
Inspector Konrad Sejer must face down his own memories and fears as he investigates the deaths of two troubled young men.

A Bali conspiracy most foul : Inspector Singh investigates
Shamini Flint
M FLI
Inspector Singh is sent to Bali to help with the investigation of a skull fragment of man who was killed before a bomb went off.

Betrayal of Trust
J.A. Jance
M JAN
Seattle investigator J.P. Beaumont uncovers a dark conspiracy that reaches deep into the halls of state government.

Camouflage
Bill Pronzini
M PRO
The Nameless Detective has a job that seems simple enough: find David Virden’s ex-wife and deliver some papers to her. Of course, it really isn’t simple enough.

Close Your Eyes
Amanda Eyre Ward
M WAR
For most of her life, Lauren Mahdian has been certain of two things: that her mother is dead, and that her father is a murderer.
The Craigslist Murders
Brenda Cullerton
M CUL
When interior decorator, Charlotte Wolfe, discovers that New York trophy wives are selling off possessions from their husbands’ first wives, her rage provokes her to bite the well-manicured hands that feed her.

A Death in Summer
Benjamin Black
M BLA
One of Dublin’s most powerful men meets a violent end and Detective Inspector Hackett calls in his old friend Quirke to help in unraveling a dark web of intrigue.

The Durham Deception
Philip Gooden
M GOO
Newlyweds Tom and Helen Ansell are drawn into the world of Victorian spiritualism and stage magic when they embark on a double mission to the cathedral city of Durham.

Escape Artist
Ed Ifkovic
M IFK
Edna Ferber and Harry Houdini are involved in solving the mystery of a young woman who disappears from a high school in 1904 Appleton, Wisconsin. Good reviews.

Flash and Bones
Kathy Reichs
M REI
After a body is found near the Charlotte Motor Speedway, a NASCAR crew member shares a devastating story with forensic anthropologist, Dr. Temperance Brennan.

Fly Me to the Morgue
Robert J. Randisi
M RAN
The Rat Pack, as in Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin, are in on a mystery, along with Bing Crosby and Bob Hope.

The Good Thief’s Guide to Venice
Chris Ewan
M EWA
Charlie Howard, part-time crime writer and part-time thief, retreats to Venice, vowing to give up a life of crime to write mysteries, full–time.
Hideout
Kathleen George
M GEO
Nominated for an Edgar Award for her last novel, the Pittsburgh author returns with another police procedural featuring Detective Colleen Greer. Great reviews.

The Hypnotist
Lars Kepler
M KEP
In the frigid climate of Tumba, Sweden, a gruesome triple homicide attracts the interest of Detective Inspector Joona Linna. Scandinavian crime is hot.

Infernal Angels 
Loren D. Estleman
M EST
P.I. Amos Walker knows where to find people who fence hot merchandise, but when he stumbles onto a dead body, he thinks that something more than stolen merchandise is involved.

Long Gone
Alafair Burke
M BUR
Working at an art gallery, Alice Humphrey arrives at work one morning and finds the whole place stripped bare and the man who had hired her, dead on the floor.

Monument to Murder
Margaret Truman
M TRU
Times are tough in Savannah for former cop and current PI Robert Brixton, so when he takes on a twenty-year-old murder case, he figures he’s got nothing to lose.

The Nightmare Thief
Meg Gardiner
M GAR
Forensic psychologist Jo Beckett finds herself involved in a “ultimate urban reality” game that turns into a deadly nightmare.

No Rest for the Dead
M NO
Twenty-six name-brand mystery authors hand off a great mystery chapter by chapter.

Shut Your Eyes Tight
John Verdon
M VER
As NYPD’s top homicide investigator, Dave Gurney was never comfortable with the label the press gave him: super detective. He just always knew that there was always a trace left behind by a murderer. But what if one day there wasn’t?

The Silent Girl
Tess Gerritsen
M GER
“Every crime scene tells a story. Some keep you awake at night. Others haunt your dreams.” For homicide cop Jane Rizzoli a murder in Boston’s Chinatown will do both.

Turn of Mind
Alice LaPlante M LAP
Dr. Jennifer White is entering the beginning stages of dementia when her life-long friend, Amanda, is murdered.

Watch Me Die
Erica Spindler
M SPI
Before Hurricane Katrina struck New Orleans, Mira Gallier had it all: work she loved and an idyllic marriage. What comes afterward is a worse nightmare than a hurricane.

White Heat
M.J. McGrath
M MCG
Half Inuit and half outsider, Edie Kiglatuk is a hunting guide on the brutal, yet beautiful island of Ellesmere. While leading two men on an expedition, one man is shot and killed. An accident, or murder?

The Woodcutter
Reginald Hill
M HIL
Outstanding reviews accompany this mystery by a noted master of the genre.

Top Rated Books of the Summer…6/6-6/21

Lynne

Our Adult Summer Reading Participants have been super busy reading and writing reviews for their favorite books. So far, we have 105 Adults signed up and they have read a total of 211 books! Here is a list of the books that they’ve rated as deserving 5 stars*****. If you click the titles, you’ll be taken to the catalog where you can place a hold on the book, if you’d like.

Al Capone Does My Shirts By Gennifer Choldenko
Al Capone Shines My Shoes By Gennifer Choldenko
American Evita By Christopher Anderson
Angela’s Ashes By Frank Mccourt
Around My French Table By Dorie Greenspan
As You Like It By Shakespeare
This Body Of Death By Elizabeth George
Broke By Glenn Beck
Brother, I’m Dying By Edwide Danticat
Buffy The Vampire Slayer Omnibus Volume 1 By Scott Allie
Cold Sassy Tree By Olive Ann Burns
The Confession By John Grisham
Crazy Love By Francis Chan
Embassytown By China Mieville
Fall Of Giants By Ken Follett
The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo By Stieg Larsson
The Glass Castle By Jeanette Walls
God Is Not Great By Christopher Hitchens
A Great Deliverance By Elizabeth George
Hellboy: Conqueror Worm By Mike Mignola
The Help By Kathryn Stockett
I Hope They Serve Beer In Hell By Tucker Max
If You Ask Me And (Of Course You Won’t) By Betty White
The Improper Life of Bezellia Grove By Susan Gregg Gilmore
Inkdeath By Cornelia Funke
Inkspell By Cornelia Funke
The Kind Diet By Alicia Silverstone
Last Song By Nicholas Sparks
The Lies We Told By Diane Chamberlain
Mists Of Avalon By Marion Zimmer Bradley
Moloka’i By Alan Brennert
Mossflower By Brian Jacques
The Murderer’s Daughters By Randy Susan Meyers
My Bread By Jim Lahey
Naked Now By Richard Rohr
Never Let Me Go By Kazuo Ishigurd
No Passengers Beyond This Point By Gennifer Choldenko
North And South By John Jakes
On Rue Tatin: Living And Cooking In A French Town By Susan Hermann Loomis
One Day By David Nichollos
Open By Andre Agassi
Oryx And Crake By Margaret Atwood
Pearl In The Sand By Tessa Afshar
Play Dead By Harlen Coben
Possum Living: How To Live Well Without A Job And With (Almost) No Money By Dolly Freed
The Postcard Killers By James Patterson
A Promise To Remember By Kathryn Cushman
The Prostitute’s Ball By Stephen Cannell
The Remains Of The Day By Kazuo Ishiguro
A River In The Sky By Elizabeth Peters
Safe Haven By Nicholas Sparks
Scorecasting By Tobias Moskowitz
Size 14 Is Not Fat Either By Mag Cabot
South Of Broad By Pat Conroy
Sputnik Sweetheart By Haruki Murakami
Strangers At The Feast By Jennifer Vanderbes
The Taste Of Home of Home Cookbook
Too Good To Be True By Kristen Higgins
True Grit By Charles Portis
The 12th Planet By Zecharia Sitchin
Twilight By Stephanie Meyers
Unbroken: A World War II Story Of Survival, Resilience, And Redemption By Laura Hillenbrand
Undead And Unreturnable By MaryJanice Davidson
Water For Elephants By Sara Gruen
Winter Solstice By Rosamunde Pilcher
Winter’s Bone By Daniel Woodrell
With The Old Breed By Eugene B. Sledge
You Are Your Own Gym By Mark Lauren

 

New Fiction – June 2011

Lynne

The Adults
Alison Espach
F ESP
Emily Vidal, a smart and snarky teenager, is the center of this tale of an affluent suburban universe where neighbors commit suicide and high school teachers have suspect relationships with students.  A world where an adult and a child can be mistaken for the same thing.

All the Time in the World
E.L. Doctorow
F DOC
The noted author presents a new collection of short fiction featuring characters who are “distinct from their surroundings — people in some sort of contest with the prevailing world.”

Bel-Air Dead
Stuart Woods
F WOO
In the wealthy Bel-Air district of Los Angeles, Stone Barrington comes face-to-face with his past when he is recruited by a beautiful widow.

Binocular Vision
Edith Pearlman
F PEA
A collection of short stories by an author who has received numerous rave reviews.

Breaking the Rules
Suzanne Brockmann
F BRO
A new entry in the author’s Troubleshooters series, features Izzy Zanella and his Navy SEAL teammate’s beautiful younger sister, Eden.

Butterfly’s Child
Angela Davis-Gardner
F DAV
What happened after the ending of the story from the famous opera Madame Butterfly?

Elizabeth I
Margaret George
F GEO
The legendary and enigmatic Queen Elizabeth is depicted by a noted historical novelist who presents an answer to the question “but what was she really like?”

Emily Alone
Stewart O’Nan
F ONA
A sequel to Wish You Were Here follows Emily Maxwell, a widow whose grown children have moved away from Pittsburgh.  From an award-winning Pittsburgh author.

A Heartbeat Away
Michael Palmer
F PAL
On the night of the State of the Union address, President Allaire is forced to quarantine everyone in the Capitol building after a terrorist group unleashes a highly contagious virus.

Heartwood
Belva Plain
F PLA
The beloved author’s last novel returns to the world of Evergreen.

Learning to Swim
Sara J. Henry
F HEN
When she witnesses a small child tumbling from a ferry into Lake Champlain, Troy Chance dives in without thinking.

Live Wire
Harlan Coben
F COB
Myron Bolitar is always quick to defend his clients’ interests no matter what the cost.  When former tennis star Suzze T and her rock star husband, Lex, encounter an anonymous posting on Facebook, Lex runs off and Suzze turns to Myron for help.

The Love of My Youth
|Mary Gordon
F GOR
Miranda and Adam, high-school sweethearts, happen to meet again after more than thirty years and re-immerse themselves in their shared past.

The Mozart Conspiracy
Scott Mariani
F MAR
As the cover states: “James Bond meets Jason Bourne meets The Da Vinci Code.”

My New American Life
Francine Prose
F PRO
Lula, a 26-year-old Albanian woman living in New York City on an expiring tourist visa, hopes to make a better life for herself in America. By a noted author.

Night Road
Kristin Hannah
F HAN
For eighteen years, Jude Farraday has put her twins, Mia and Zach, ahead of herself and they are bright and happy teenagers.  Their life becomes much more difficult, however, when Lexi moves into their small-knit community.

Pacific Glory
P.T. Deutermann
F DEU
An old-fashioned military adventure that features three inseparable friends during their Naval Academy years and whose lives are forever changed by the Pearl Harbor attack on December 7, 1941.

The Peach Keeper
Sarah Addison Allen
F ALL
The author of The Girl Who Chased the Moon welcomes you to a new locale: Walls of Water, North Carolina, where the secrets are as thick as the fog from the town’s famous waterfalls.

Please Look After Mom
Kyung-Sook Shin
F SIN
A Korean bestseller, a moving story of a family’s search for their mother, who goes missing one afternoon amid the crowds of the Seoul Station subway.

The Silver Boat
Luanne Rice
F RIC
A heartwarming portrait of three far-flung sisters who come to Martha’s Vineyard one last time to say good-bye to the family beach house.

Slow Dancing on Price’s Pier
Lisa Dale
F DAL
Fifteen yeas ago, Garret Sorensen’s family, trust, and heart were destroyed when Thea Celik married his brother.  Now that her marriage is ending in divorce, perhaps Garret can put the past behind him.

This Vacant Paradise
Victoria Patterson
F PAT
The 1990’s—Newport Beach, California.  Esther Wilson has the looks to marry well, but things aren’t going as planned.

Tiger Hills
Sarita Mandanna
F MAN
As the first girl to be born into the Nachimanda family in over sixty years, the beautiful Devi is the object of adoration of her entire family.  This is her story.  Starred reviews accompany this first novel.

The Trinity Six
Charles Cumming
F CUM
The 1930’s five-member Cambridge spy ring comprised the most notorious Russian spies in history.  But what if there were a sixth man, a member of the ring whose identity was never revealed?

The Uncoupling
Meg Wolitzer
F WOL
The author of The Ten-Year Nap returns with a story of the strange consequences that occur to a high school community  after a new drama teacher chooses Lysistrata as the school play.

The Watery Part of the World
Michael Parker
F PAR
A haunting story that spans over one hundred years of life on a barrier island off the coast of North Carolina.  It all begins in 1813 when Theodosia Burr, en route to New York to meet her father, Aaron Burr, disappears.

New Fiction – April 2011

Lynne

Agent X 
Noah Boyd
F BOY
FBI-agent-turned-bricklayer Steve Vail once helped solve a brilliant extortion plot.  But now the FBI has another unsolvable problem and it has Vail’s name written all over it.

Cleaning Nabokov’s House
Leslie Daniels
F DAN
When Barb Barrett walks out of her loveless marriage she doesn’t realize she will lose everything.  As she begins to collect the scattered pieces of her life, she moves into a house once occupied by Vladimir Nabokov.

Destiny and Desire
Carlos Fuentes
F FUE
Passion, magic and desire in modern Mexico from an acclaimed author.

A Discovery of Witches
Deborah Harkness
F HAR
A centuries-old vampire, a spellbound witch and a mysterious manuscript found in Oxford’s Bodleian Library are bound together in this intriguing novel.

Emily and Einstein
Linda Francis Lee
F LEE
After her husband is killed in a tragic accident, Emily is forced to find out who her husband really was.  She finds comfort in a scruffy dog named Einstein.

The Fates Will Find Their Way
Hannah Pittard
F PIT
Sixteen-year-old Nora Lindell is missing.  And the neighborhood boys she’s left behind are caught forever in the mystery of her absence.

Gideon’s Sword    
Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child
F PRE
A thriller introducing Gideon Crew: trickster, prodigy, and master thief,  from a pair of well-known authors.

Gideon’s War     
Howard Gordon
F GOR
Gideon Davis has just 48 hours to bring his rogue agent brother in — before a twisted global conspiracy turns deadly.  A fiction debut by the producer of the TV series 24.

I Think I Love You
Allison Pearson
F PEA
The author of I Don’t Know How She Does It returns with a story of first love and how that ardor of youth can ignite an adult life. What happens when your 13-year-old fan obsession is realized when you’re pushing forty?

In Office Hours
Lucy Kellaway
F KEL
Stella and Bella are two intelligent working women who each fall for impossible lovers—at work.  The excitement and absurdity of office romance.

The Informationist
Taylor Stevens
F STE
Vanessa Munroe deals in information—expensive information—for corporations, and anyone else who can pay for her unique brand of expertise.   Starred reviews for a debut author.  Thriller, anyone?

Journal of a UFO Investigator
David Halperin
F HAL
Danny Shapiro is an isolated teenager who creates a reality of his own that blends seamlessly with his day-to-day life.  What is real? What is imagined?  A heartfelt debut from a promising author.

The Matchmaker of Kenmare
Frank Delaney
F DEL
An Irish story of friendship and sacrifice during the years of World War II.

Minding Frankie
Maeve Binchy
F MIN
Joy, heartbreak and hope abound in this tale of a motherless girl who is being raised by a close-knit Dublin community.

Night Vision
Randy Wayne White
F WHI
Doc Ford finds himself on another suspenseful ride when he discovers that a lot is going on in the Red Citrus trailer park.  Vintage suspense from a master of the genre.

Now You See Her
Joy Fielding
F FIE
Fifty-year-old Marcy Taggart is newly divorced, following the presumed death of her daughter Devon.  Attempting to heal her heartache, she finds herself on a desperate search hoping that her daughter is still alive.

The Old Romantic
Louise Dean
F DEA
Nick and his long-estranged family discover that blood is indeed thicker than water in a hilarious, yet moving, domestic comedy. British humor, anyone?

The Paris Wife
Paula McLain
F MCL
A remarkable place and time features Ernest Hemingway and his first wife Hadley Richardson as they are swept up with the “lost generation” of Paris in the 1920’s.

Portraits of a Marriage
Sándor Márai
F MAR
A rediscovered novel by the noted Hungarian author of Embers is an exploration of a triangle of entanglement during the years between the two World Wars.

Three Stages of Amazement
Carol Edgarian
F EDG
Charlie and Lena grew up in San Francisco believing they could have it all, but now, in early middle age, life has delivered surprises and tests.

The Tiger’s Wife
Téa Obreht
F OBR
In a Balkan country mending from years of conflict, Natalia, a young doctor, arrives on a mission of mercy at an orphanage.  Soon she has a feeling that age-old superstitions and secrets are gathering  around her.

The Weird Sisters
Eleanor Brown
F BRO
Unlucky in work, love, and life, the Andreas sisters return to their childhood home.  And each has a secret she’s unwilling to share.  Starred reviews.

When the Killing’s Done
T.C. Boyle
F BOY
Alma Boyd Takesue is a National Park Service biologist who is hoping to save the native species of the Channel Islands from invasive species, such as rats and feral pigs.  Her antagonist, Dave LaJoy, is fiercely opposed to the killing of any species.  An engrossing story with great reviews.

The Whisperers
John Connolly
F CON
Charlie Parker is faced with sinister events in the vast Great North Woods along the border of Maine and Canada. A dangerous smuggling operation is being run by disenchanted former soldiers and is more terrifying than anyone can imagine.

The Year of the Hare
Arto Paasilinna
F PAA
A comic novel by a Finnish author who has been amusing Finns for thirty years and world-wide readers in twenty-five languages.

New Biographies – April 2011

Lynne

Against All Odds: My Life of Hardship, Fast Breaks and Second Chances
Scott Brown
B BROWN
The extraordinary life journey of the current U.S. Senator from Massachusetts.

All That Is Bitter and Sweet
Ashley Judd
B JUDD
The author explains why she opted out of a successful Hollywood career to find her true calling: as a humanitarian and advocate for those suffering in neglected parts of the world.

Amelia Earhart: The Turbulent Life of an American Icon
Kathleen C. Winters
B WINTERS
When Amelia Earhart vanished over the Pacific Ocean in 1937 during an attempted around the world flight, she was at the height of her fame.  A fascinating portrait of a complex woman.

American Rose: A Nation Laid Bare, The Life and Times of Gypsy Rose Lee
Karen Abbott
B LEE
The extraordinary life of Gypsy Rose Lee and the world she survived and conquered.

And Furthermore
Judi Dench
B DENCH
The life story of the famed British actress, Dame Dench, in her own words.

And I Shall Have Some Peace There: Trading in the Fast Lane for My Own Dirt Road
Margaret Roach
B ROACH
The author left her big-city life, including her work as an editorial director for Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, to seek an entirely different reward.

Bird Cloud
Annie Proulx
B PROULX
Bird Cloud is the name Annie Proulx gave to the 640 acres of Wyoming wetlands and prairie that she calls home.

Blood, Bones & Butter: The Inadvertent Education of a Reluctant Chef
Gabrielle Hamilton
B HAMILTON
Before the author opened her acclaimed New York restaurant Prune, she spent twenty hard-living years trying to find purpose and meaning in her life.

A Box of Darkness: The Story of a Marriage
Sally Ryder Brady
B BRADY
Upton and Sally Brady were cultivated and elegant, living a life of literary glamour and high expectations. The author looks back on her marriage of forty-six years and the discoveries that she made following her husband’s death.

Branch Rickey
Jimmy Breslin
B BRESLIN
In 1947, as president and general manager of the Brooklyn Dodgers, Branch Rickey defied racism on and off the field to bring Jackie Robinson into the major leagues.

Day of Honey: A Memoir of Food, Love and War
Annia Ciezadlo
B CIEZADLO
In the fall of 2003, the author spent her honeymoon in Baghdad.  Over the next six years, while living in Baghdad and Beirut, she finds the rituals of food and friendship sustaining in a time of war.

The Elephant to Hollywood
Michael Caine
B CAINE
The acclaimed actor tells the story of his transformation from Maurice Micklewhite to Sir Michael Caine.

The Foremost Good Fortune
Susan Conley
B CONLEY
When her family says good-bye to family and friends in Maine for two-years in Beijing, China, that have little concept of just how much their lives will change.

Galileo
J.L. Heilbron
B GALILEO
The hero and martyr of science is captured through a wide-angled lens that takes in the wide spectrum of culture, religion, science, theology and politics of late Renaissance Italy.

I Beat the Odds: From Homelessness to The Blind Side and Beyond
Michael Oher
B OHER
An account of the  Baltimore Ravens football player who is at the center of the book and the movie, The Blind Side. Here’s his own story.

I Love a Broad Margin to My Life
Maxine Hong Kingston
B KINGSTON
Reflections related in flowing verse lines explore the author’s thoughts as she turns sixty-five.

I’m Over All That: and Other Confessions
Shirley MacLaine
B MACLAINE
The author has reached the time in her life when she realizes what is truly important and what just doesn’t matter any more.

Jackie as Editor: The Literary Life of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis
Greg Lawrence
B ONASSIS
A chronicle of an important part of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis’s life—her nineteen-year editorial career.

J.D. Salinger: A Life
Kenneth Slawenski
B SALINGER
The mysterious and reclusive author of The Catcher in the Rye is revealed in this examination of his life.

Known and Unknown: A Memoir
Donald Rumsfeld
B RUMSFELD
A memoir of the controversial Secretary of Defense and his half-century career in public service.

The Memory Palace: A Memoir
B BARTOK
Mira Bartók
“A disturbing, mesmerizing personal narrative about growing up with a brilliant but schizophrenic mother…. Richly textured, compassionate, and heartbreaking.” Kirkus Reviews.

My Thoughts Be Bloody: The Bitter Rivalry Between Edwin and John Wilkes Booth that Led to an American Tragedy
Nora Titone
B BOOTH
A penetrating look a the personal stories of the Booth family and the background rivalry that was integral to the assassin’s motivation.

Poser: My Life in Twenty-Three Yoga Poses
Claire Dederer
B DEDERER
After throwing out her back ten years ago, the author turned to yoga and soon fell in love with the practice, both physically and spiritually.

Tough Without a Gun: The Life and Extraordinary Afterlife of Humphrey Bogart
Stefan Kanfer
B BOGART
A look at one of the great movie icons of the 20th century and an appraisal of the actor’s singular legacy.

Townie: A Memoir
Andre Dubus III
B DUBUS
After their parents divorced in the 1970s, the author and his three siblings grew up with their working mother in a town where drugs and violence were an everyday occurrence. On Sundays his father, a college professor, took the kids to a totally different world.

Wait for Me! Memoirs
Deborah Mitford, Duchess of Devonshire
B DEVONSHIRE
The remarkable life story of the youngest of the famous Mitford family, from her eccentric childhood to her residence at the noted historic home of Chatsworth.

A Widow’s Story: A Memoir
Joyce Carol Oates
B OATES
The noted author unveils a poignant memoir about the unexpected death of her husband of forty-six years and its wrenching aftermath.