Category: Books

The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern

- Ann Leave a comment

The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern has become one of the most buzzed-about books of the year, and with good reason.  Set in the late 1800s, it is the story of a boy named Marco and a girl named Celia who are bound in a competition that they don’t truly understand, but they know that it will involve using the magical abilities that both show at a young age.  They spend their young lives being trained by instructors whose methods differ greatly until the time comes for the challenge to begin.  For this purpose, a venue is created:  a stunning, mysterious black-and-white circus that travels constantly and only operates at night, called Les Cirque des Reves.  It is like no other circus you have ever seen, complete with a fortune teller, an illusionist, acrobats, the most delicious food you can imagine, and tents filled with landscapes that will take your breath away.  The two spend years using their abilities to make alterations to the circus, constantly one-upping each other as they grow more and more aware that the consequences could be dire.  Especially once they realize their true feelings for one another.

The story is told through multiple points of view all while bouncing around in time to different points in the lifespan of the circus.  Initially this can make it a little hard to follow exactly when and where everything is happening, but once you catch onto the flow of it, this makes the story more complete and layered.  The focus of the story isn’t just on Celia and Marco, but on all the supporting circus folk as well.  In fact, the part of the story I found most compelling was the story of Bailey, a boy who becomes enthralled with the circus at a young age and waits for years for it to come back.  Eventually he befriends two of the circus performers and find his fate intertwined with that of the circus in a way he never expected.  But my absolute favorite thing about the book is how beautifully it is written.  The language is absolutely lovely and creates the most vivid and uniquely beautiful pictures in the reader’s head.  I don’t even want to describe any of it to you because part of the fun of the book is discovering new parts of the circus as Celia and Marco make their alterations!  Morgenstern creates a very sensory experience; you can see, hear, smell, and taste the circus as though it is going on all around you. 

Making my expereince with The Night Circus even better, I listened to the audio version read by the amazing Jim Dale (narrator of the Harry Potter audio books).  He really brings the characters to life, and his narration makes this already beautifully-written book even more magical.  If you like magic, romance, and very vivid reading experiences, I highly recommend picking up this incredibly enchanting novel.

Curling Up With a Good Book

- Ann Leave a comment

Rainy days, hot cider, and brisk temperatures mean that autumn is here, and with it, my favorite time of year: curl-up-with-a-good-book season (a long season that includes just about everything outside of Beach Reading season)! Here are two long, luscious books that beg to be read under a blanket with a mug of something hot.

The Thirteenth Tale, first and only novel of Diane Setterfield, has been continuously popular since its 2006 release. The rich atmospheric tone of this novel is perfectly matched to brisk fall weather and the thrilling plot will keep you turning the pages late into the night. Reclusive author Vida Winter has shrouded her identity and her history in lies and deceptions; her deathbed wish to set the record straight leads her to Margaret Lea, timid bookseller and sometime-biographer. Margaret is drawn into Vida’s story, a convoluted and compelling tale of crumbling Victorian houses, madwomen in the attic, tragedy, heartbreak, mystery, secrets, and love. When I read this book I could NOT put it down! DPL has recently acquired a brand-new “book club in a box” kit for this book; book club kits include 10+ copies of the book, tips for starting a book club, and a list of discussion questions. They check out for 6 weeks. The Thirteenth Tale book club kit is coming soon!

Sarah Waters’ Fingersmith is spectacularly Victorian, bursting with madhouses, ladies’ maids, and enough absurd coincidences and precocious orphans to make Charles Dickens blush. It’s the story of aristocratic Maud Lilly and orphaned Sue Trinder, who goes to work for the Lilly family intending to rob Maud blind. The twists and turns that ensue, along with Waters’ sharp wit and snappy pacing, make this novel truly unforgettable. If you’re hooked on this historical, atmospheric vibe, try Waters’ other novels: Affinity, The Little Stranger, and Tipping the Velvet.

 

 

Half Finished Books – Part One – True Love (And Other Lies)

- Lynn Leave a comment

 True Love (And Other Lies) by Whitney Gaskell has an interesting premise and a promising heroine.Things I like – Clare is funny and snarkily irreverent about her job as a travel writer for the magazine, Sassy Seniors!

Based in New York, she must evaluate destinations with an eye for early-bird specials and frugal accommodations. Usually, when she gets to travel, she’s sent to budget hotels in American cities.When she finally  gets an opportunity to go to London, she feels the time spent paying her dues has paid off.

(Actually the reason I am reading the book is because I did a search for novels about travel or travel writers).

Stay tuned…

My Summer of Southern Discomfort by Stephanie Gayle

- Lynn Leave a comment

Stephanie Gayle’s story of a disgraced lawyer who moves from Manhatten to Macon,Georgia has all the ingredients of a standard chick lit novel – a young, attractive female in a glamorous profession who places her trust in a wildly untrustworthy cad and is now trying to rebuild her life with new friends, in a new job, in a new city.

Gayle, however, nearly forgets to include a new romance for her heroine, Natalie Goldberg. Instead, the real strength of My Summer of Southern Discomfort is in the relationship the Bostonian daughter of a legendary civil rights lawyer develops with Ben, her Southern, conservative co-worker, as the two of them try a death penalty case together. Natalie and Ben learn to respect the strenghs each one brings to the trial and it’s preparation.

The book is actually a hybrid of genres – legal fiction/romance.  A love interest for Natalie is hurriedly tacked on at the end of the book, so the book does earn it’s embossed Chick Lit stamp.

The Wilder Life by Wendy McClure

- Lynn Leave a comment

The beginning of the audiobook version of this book is fun – especially if you are also a Little House fan. You’ll have many “I felt like that too!” moments, as the author describes her love of what she calls “Laura World.”

Wendy McClure, the author of The Wilder Life  is on the extreme end of the Little House research continuum, however. After a while, I found myself withdrawing – wishing I hadn’t heard that bit of myth debunking. I was quite happy believing that most things in the books were based on emotional, if not factual, truth.

Of special interest are the details about how the tv series overtook the books in popularity and the legal battles over the “Little House” brand, or LHOP, as the author calls it.

The end is satisfying and thought-provoking. McClure ties in what she learned about how Laura Ingalls Wilder and Rose Wilder told their stories with  how she came to terms with memories of her mother.

Chelsea Handler Read-Alikes

- Ann Leave a comment

Did you stop by the library to pick up one of Chelsea Handler’s hilarious books only to discover that they’re all checked out?  While you’re on the waiting list for a copy of Lies That Chelsea Handler Told Me, My Horizontal Life, Chelsea Chelsea Bang Bang, or Are You There Vodka? It’s Me, Chelsea, check out some other books that you might enjoy:

Pretty In Plaid, My Fair Lazy, and Such a Pretty Fat by Jen Lancaster:  Humorous memoirs about the author’s life with stories about dieting and food, sororities, lots of clothes, drinking, and reality TV.

You Can’t Drink All Day If You Don’t Start In The Morning by Celia Rivenbark:  A collection of humorous essays written by a brash Southern woman.  The title alone tells me that this book is something Chelsea Handler would approve of.

Official Book Club Selection by Kathy Griffin:  Stories of the comedienne’s life  peppered with Kathy’s trademark humor concerning all things celebrity.

The Bedwetter by Sarah Silverman:  The famously crude comedienne tells the story of her life, managing to bring her signature humor into even the most serious stories about depression and late-in-life bedwetting.

I Was Told There’d Be Cake by Sloane Crosley:  A collection of witty essays about a 20-something trying to make it in Manhattan.  I particularly enjoyed her evil boss stories and her explanation of her bizzare collection of plastic ponies.

A book I can read inside out and back again

- Ann Leave a comment

Two things I usually do not like to read about: war and hot places. And yet I found myself picking up Inside Out & Back Again by Thanhha Lai everytime I walked past the New J Fiction shelf. I could tell by the description on the back of the book that the story was about a young girl living in South Vietnam right before the fall of Saigon, thus, it was about war in a hot place. Yet, the praise on the back cover also demanded that I “read it slowly to savor the delicious language” and cheer on “a protagonist so strong, so loving, and vivid [that fellow author] longed to hand her a wedge of freshly cut papaya.” I asked myself one question: Have I ever eaten a papaya? I don’t think so, but after reading this book I am convinced that papaya is now my favorite fruit, and that Inside Out & Back Again has my vote for the Newbery Award this year.

This story, told in verse, spends one year with ten-year-old Hà as her family undergoes the transition from their war-torn, unsettled home in South Vietnam to the the unknown and sometimes cruel world of being refugees in the United States. Ha’s environment is something I have never experienced, but her spirit and humor remind me of many of my kindred fictional friends from Ramona Quimby to Allie Finkle. Thus, she enabled me to live a piece of our world’s history that, until now, had really only been presented to me through dry history books or masculine, heated war literature.

Hà’s story in heartbreaking, but not without hope and smiles. An excerpt from Inside Out & Back Again by Thanhha Lai:

Quiet Decision

Dinnertime
I help Mother
peel sweet potatoes
to stretch the rice.

I start to chop off
a potato’s end
as wide as
a thumbnail,
then decide
to slice off
only a sliver.

I am proud
of my ability
to save
until I see
tears
in Mother’s
deep eyes.

You deserve to grow up
where you don’t worry about
saving half a bite
of sweet potato.

April 19

Writing a love letter to Katie Fforde and her book jackets

- Ann Leave a comment

I have been wanting to read a book by Katie Fforde for a while now. Why?

A. Her book covers are so fresh & lovely
B. She is the cousin-in-law of one of my very favorite authors, Jasper Fforde.

Very good reasons, but not quite enough to jump to the top of my very long to-read list. Luckily, one of her books did the unthinkable and bypassed the list altogether! I found myself at work with no new US Weekly magazine to read for lunch and there was the pretty, hand-lettered cover of Love Letters staring up at me from an items-recently-returned book truck. After reading just a few pages I knew that I would spend my evening curled up on the front porch with this book.

Love Letters revolves around a bookish girl in her mid-twenties, Laura, who finds herself out of a job when her grandfatherly employer decides to retire and close their beloved bookshop. However, Laura has earned a bit of a reputation for her expert handling of authors at the shop’s popular book-signing events and she is quickly recruited to organize a country book festival. Of course nothing can be simple: the book festival’s sponsor will only supply the funds if Laura can guarantee the appearance of a certain reclusive, notoriously difficult, and incredibly handsome Irish author. So begins the delightful adventures of Laura as she travels across England and Ireland, staying in hip country estates and sleeping in wild authors’ beds. The whole story is very romantic, cozy and lovely–just like the book’s jacket design!

And speaking of the book design, I was super excited to find that the newest editions of Katie Fforde’s books provide information on the jacket’s designers, illustrator and calligrapher! (who are Head Design, Sophie Griotto and Jill Calder, respectively.) Kudos to you, St. Martin Press, for giving credit to the people responsible for me picking up Love Letters to begin with!

Killer Instinct by Zoe Sharp

- Ann Leave a comment

guest post by Sarah

Re-released books can be tricky – it’s easy to mistake them for new novels from your favorite author. But when that author’s earliest books were published in another country, re-releases are a great way to catch the origins for your favorite characters.

One such author is Zoe Sharp, whose first three titles in her popular series about Charolotte “Charlie” Fox – no-nonsense, motorcycle-riding, close-protection specialist – were only released in the UK. One could enjoy Charlie’s missions and personal trials without reading the books before First Drop – which is actually the fourth book in the series – hit the United States in 2004, but fans wanted more.

Killer Instinct introduces Charlie shortly after the British army threw her out for reasons that have estranged her from her family. She’s making something of a living teaching self-defense to women, but one of her classes has to move out of its meeting space when the new owner of the building refurbishes it as a nightclub. Charlie reluctantly agrees to visit the club for a karaoke contest and is forced to use her skills to defend her friend against the jealous reigning champion.

This nets her a new job with the nightclub’s testosterone-heavy, borderline hostile security team – and a bigger problem when the woman she fought is murdered. Charlie figures she’ll be the number one suspect, until it becomes clear that a homicidal serial rapist is stalking are women. And that the killer is somehow connected to the strange goings-on at the club…

Charlie is a terrific protagonist and Ms Sharp is a talented author. Between the two of them they make Killer Instinct a must-read – or even a re-read – for those who enjoy mysteries with strong women, elusive bad guys and just a touch of emotional angst.

The Breakdown Lane by Jacquelyn Mitchard on audiobook

- Michelle Leave a comment

After listening to Still Summer by Jacquelyn Mitchard, I was excited to listen to another audiobook by her and chose The Breakdown Lane recently.  The Breakdown Lane tells the story of Julianne Gilles – wife of lawyer Leo Steiner, mother to three and advice columnist in Sheboygan, Wisconsin.

All is perfect in Julianne’s world until she sees the signs that her husband is in the midst of a mid-life crisis.  Leo decides to leave for a seemingly idyllic life at a commune in update New York and it becomes increasingly clear that after a time he is not coming back to Julianne and his children.  On top of the stress of becoming a newly single mother, Julianne receives more devastating news concerning her health.  Shortly thereafter two of her children, Gabe and Caroline, set off on a quest to find their father and they are stunned when they find out how his life as changed.  Thinking all is lost and feeling sorry for herself, Julianne gets an unexpected visitor that completely changes her life.  The Breakdown Lane is a fabulous story of loss and the redemptive power of love – it is highly recommended.