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* If you liked The Da Vinci Code, or—What to read while waiting for your copy. Thriller/Mystery Judging from the length of the hold lists at the library, many of us have discovered other books by Dan Brown besides his bestseller, The Da Vinci Code. They are well written, have good, can’t-put-it-down plots, somewhat mysterious and interesting subject matter, characters we find real yet fascinating, and they are very well researched. Many events and organizations that you think may have been fabricated for the sake of the book turn out to be real. Brown’s Angels and Demons is also about Robert Langdon, the main character in The Da Vinci Code. Brown makes references in The Da Vinci Code to events in Angels and Demons, so it is something of a sequel. Although the plot is fraught with mysterious groups and individual agendas, somehow Brown brings it together to form a satisfying whole. One of Brown’s strengths is to bring historical mysteries into a modern setting. The Da Vinci Code uses the Priory of Sion; Angels and Demons uses the Illuminati. In Deception Point, it’s current politics and NASA with an object buried deep in the Arctic ice that will prove that extraterrestrial life exists. Brown’s first novel, Digital Fortress, involves computers, the Internet and encryption technology. Those who like the fast paced aspect of The Da Vinci Code will also enjoy his other titles. If your imagination was captured by the mystery of the secret society and speculation about the historical Jesus, Dan Brown has provided a good list of factual explorations on the topic: The Templar Revelation: Secret Guardians of the True Identity of Christ by Lynn Picknett and Clive Prince; The Woman With the Alabaster Jar: Mary Magdalen and the Holy Grail by Margaret Starbird; The Goddess in the Gospels: Reclaiming the Sacred Feminine by Margaret Starbird, and Holy Blood, Holy Grail by Michael Baigent, Richard Leigh, and Henry Lincoln. (one of Brown’s characters, Leigh Teabing, is an anagram of Leigh and Baigent.) I read Holy Blood, Holy Grail over 15 years ago and still remember it as an exhaustively researched, fascinating exploration of the possible histories of Jesus and clandestine societies such as the Templars, the Masons and others. It should be noted that those who hold strongly with literal biblical interpretation would find much to argue with. Being a history buff, I enjoyed the historical aspects of The Da Vinci Code. It almost seems like an alternate history, or at least a history that didn’t get much play in any book on Western Civilization that I ever read. Other intellectual thrillers with historical underpinnings are The Name of the Rose and Foucault’s Pendulum by Umberto Eco, and A Case of Curiosities and The Grand Complication by Allen Kurzweil. Judith Merkle Riley has some interesting historical novels that often have an arcane touch: In Pursuit of the Green Lion, The Oracle Glass, The Serpent Garden, The Master of All Desires, and A Vision of Light. Connie Willis’s Doomsday Book and Lincoln’s Dreams, and Vonda McIntyre’s The Moon and the Sun, both use historical settings to tell cryptic tales. If you want to go a little farther into the realm of fantasy fiction, try The Adept series by Katherine Kurtz and Deborah Turner Harris; The Dark is Rising series by Susan Cooper; or, an oldie but a goodie, C.S. Lewis’ Space Trilogy (Out of the Silent Planet, Perelandra and That Hideous Strength). Terry Brooks has a good vs. evil series going with three titles, Running With the Demon, A Knight of the Word and Angel Fire East. In the read-alikes category, Lewis Perdue claims that The Da Vinci Code was stolen from his novel The Da Vinci Legacy but the two are very different, although similar in some ways. Although I found Perdue to be a little formulaic, both his The Da Vinci Legacy and Daughter of God have interesting plots, as does Codex by Lev Grossman. This just came out in 2004 and may have been a bid to capture some of the Dan Brown audience, but it succeeds on its own merits as well. You will also want to check out books by the authors John Case and Daniel Silva. Both are comparable in subject as well as pace. To find other read-alikes of your favorite novels, delve into the library’s online reference resources or ask at your library for suggestions. All of the titles mentioned in this article can be found at the Timberland Regional Library, many of them in audio as well as print editions. --Heather King * Selected Books for Discussion Groups: “Book Discussion Groups & Their Books.” Fiction & Nonfiction Book groups and clubs abound in America today. They are sponsored by libraries, bookstores, organizations, and television talk show hosts as well as enjoyed among friends and colleagues. The book group as a social and literary entity has been around since before the 18th century, which saw the rise in popularity of European literary salons. In the United States, bestselling books were an outcome of the Book of the Month Club and the Literary Guild, both founded in the late 1920s. These subscription book groups provided affordable reading to millions of Americans alongside the uniquely American free public library system. In 1996, Oprah Winfrey re-energized book groups as a national pastime with “The Oprah Book Club”. If you, dear reader, wish to be in a book group, there is no dearth of opportunity! Currently, the Timberland Regional Library system sponsors 25monthly “PageTurners” book discussion groups in 22 libraries in Thurston, Lewis, Pacific, Mason, and Grays Harbor Counties. The meetings are always open to new participants. (See www.trlib.org/PageTurners.asp) Local bookstores, such as Barnes & Noble and Fireside in Olympia, sponsor numerous book discussion groups. Most groups meet monthly. Private book clubs often combine book discussion with time devoted to social chat and food—especially dessert! Many publishers, such as Random House and Penguin/Putnam have enhanced reading experiences by including reading guides that contain discussion questions, background notes, and author biographies. Book group guides abound on the Internet. Among the most popular are the Timberland library-sponsored subscription reference resource “NoveList” at www.trlib.org (your Timberland library card gets you in) and websites such as www.readinggroupguides.com and www.bookbrowser.com There are numerous books devoted to helping book groups. In one (The Reading Group Handbook: Everything You Need to Know to Start Your Own Book Club), author Rachel W. Jacobsohn states: “A good book is a gift to be appreciated by the mind, the body, and the soul”. She even invites her readers to write to her about their groups’ “policies, reading choices, stumbling blocks and…successes.” What makes a good discussion book? Ellen Moore and Kira Stevens, authors of Good Books Lately: the One-Stop Resource for Book Groups and Other Greedy Readers, list the eight most popular book discussion group genres as: the classic literary novel, contemporary literary novels, short story collections, popular paperbacks, the memoir/autobiography, the creative essay/creative nonfiction, and strict nonfiction-historical story. Nancy Pearl (author of Book Lust: Recommended Reading for Every Mood, Moment, and Reason and recently-retired Executor Director of the Washington State Center for the Book) says that good discussion books usually have all four of what she calls “the four appeals”: a great story, a remarkable setting, unforgettable characters, and a great writing style. Here is a short list of books that have these appeals and are popular with book groups. There are so many more! Summaries can be found in Timberland’s online library catalog. (www.trlib.org) Fiction
Nonfiction
-- Jean D. Barnett * Selected Short Stories: Long Lasting Quick Reads. Short Fiction What is the allure of the short story? This form of fiction is, by definition…well…short! And, like a satisfying snack, it nurtures you, dear reader, between literary meals of novels. With really well honed short fiction, there is a quick immersion into plot and character that zings the imagination, that takes you out of yourself, akin to how Kurt Vonnegut defines the short story as "a Buddhist Catnap." He recalls how his father would set aside his workday by sitting in his easy chair with a short story from the Saturday Evening Post (Bagombo Snuff Box: Uncollected Short Fiction, Putnam, 1999). How satisfying! How refreshing to the soul and the mind! Since 9/11, not surprisingly, there have been a number of short story collections on the New York Times bestseller list. Librarians have commented that many readers find they just cannot settle into a long novel and turn to non-fiction and short fiction in increasing numbers. Dyed in the wool fiction readers also turn to the short story, for comfort, for reassurance, for escape. There are short story collections for every taste and bent. What follows are a few notables. Drinking Coffee Elsewhere: Stories, by Z.Z. Packer (Riverhead Books, 2003). Packer brings the full range of African-American contemporary lives into view in this bestselling volume. Her story, "Brownies", about an inner city Brownie troop who go to a multi-racial summer camp, is both sad and funny and goes to the heart of the nature of racism. Half in Love: Stories, by Maile Meloy (Scribner, 2002). These stories, many based in modern day Montana, showcase life on the modern ranch. The story "Ranch Life" portrays a young girl who wants to get away from that life, and does, only to return, drawn back by a way of life and a community because, she feels, "you don’t get old here". A Few Short Notes on Tropical Butterflies: Stories, by John Murray (Harper Collins, 2003) Murray, a trained doctor, writes about the intersection of life and love with science. The title story is told from the point of view of a surgeon, married to a much younger neurosurgeon. He is ambivalent about his wife’s need to have a child. His memories of his dead grandfather, a lover of butterflies, helps him reconcile death with beauty as he attempts to apply logic to both his life and his marriage. Ten Little Indians: Stories, by Sherman Alexie (Grove Press, 2003) Alexie, an Evergreen graduate and Seattle writer, writes stories peopled with urban Native Americans, struggling to live, necessarily, in two worlds. The story "Do Not Go Gentle", about crib death, is very short, very metaphoric, and both ironic and sad. Mrs. Rahlo’s Closet and Other Mad Tales, by R.E. Klein (iPublish.com, 2001) Are these stories of fantasy or horror? You decide. In "Ashes Fall on Timberlake" the main character, a writer retreating at a mountain cabin, sees a "demon hand" fall from the sky, which leads him into a real retreat, both from reality and sanity. Kissing in Manhattan, by David Schickler. This set of stories centers around the occupants of a Manhattan apartment building. Not even remotely similar to TV’s "Friends", this group of mostly 20-somethings finds intimacy without friendship and love without passion. In the end, however, some of them find themselves. Want more? Try the short stories of Edith Templeton (The Darts of Cupid and Other Stories, Pantheon, 2002), Ann Packer (Mendocino and Other Stories, Vintage, 2003), and, that master of the contemporary New York City fiction scene, Louis Auchincloss (Manhattan Monologues: Stories, Houghlin Mifflin, 2002). For real fun, peruse The Pushcart Book of Short Stories: the Best Short Stories from a Quarter-Century of The Pushcart Prize. The 2001 edition is edited by Bill Henderson (Pushcart Press, 2002). Snacking on short fiction can be both mind bending and soothing - so enjoy! And, please note that collections reviewed here are available at your local Timberland Library. --Jean Drabbe Barnett * Selected Talking Books: LISTEN UP!! Fiction (audio) Talking Books are so great: These audio editions of published books are portable, they are available in many formats (audiocassette, CD, MP3-CD), and you can enjoy the book even if you don’t have time to actually read it. Commuters, gardeners, runners and walkers, house cleaners, even desk workers know the value of a really yummy talking book. But what makes a really good "listen"? Is it the plot? Partially. Is it the recording technology? Of course. Or, and here is the secret to a delicious listen, is it the reader? Bingo! Librarians will tell you that their dyed in the wool talking book patrons ask for new talking books, not always by title or author, but by reader, as in "What’s new by George Guidell"? Many readers have theatrical careers and most are accomplished and inventive speakers. AudioFile Magazine, which solely reviews new talking books, gives annual "Golden Voices" awards for great talking book performances. What are their criteria? Here is what the AudioFile editors note in the Dec. 2003/Jan. 2004 issue: "The voice of the narrator is the Muse of audio books. The audio experience is controlled by what we hear. And what we hear is more than just words... The voice is the vehicle that brings the words into our mind’s imagination. The actor must use the words the author dictates, but the voice colors the context, the emotional weight, the emphasis… Weaving each element into a whole, the actor creates a tapestry." Below is a listing of a few favorite talking books and their narrators. All of them, and a few thousand more, are available through your local Timberland Library. There are fiction and non-fiction audio books for all ages, including juvenile book-and-tape combinations and non-English versions. So check some out and LISTEN UP! The Cat Who Ate Danish Modern by Lilian Jackson Braun (Recorded Books, 1990) Reader George Guidall is the undisputed king of talking book narrators. Guidall is so identified with Braun’s "Cat Who…" detective, Jim Qwilleran, that fans writing to him address him as Mr. Qwilleran. Guidall has narrated over 400 titles. The Prince of Tides by Pat Conroy (Recorded Books, 1988). Conroy’s novel of a Southern dysfunctional family and how they heal is beautifully rendered by Frank Muller. Tragically, Muller, a rising star among talking book readers, suffered a terrible accident a few years ago and is no longer able to perform. The Shell Seekers by Rosamunde Pilcher (Recorded Books, 1990). Narrator Barbara Rosenblatt, a Broadway actress and veteran talking book reader, brings this British family saga to life. Her ability to mimic accents and characterize the many characters makes her a favorite among audio fans. Harry Potter (series) by J.K. Rowling (Listening Library, 1999-2003). Sir Jim Dale is the many voices of the Hogwarts School for Witchcraft and Wizardry. He was knighted, in large part, for his virtuoso rendering of Harry Potter’s world. The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd (HighBridge, 2001). Jenna Lamia’s sweet performance as Lily Owens, a young girl who runs away from an abusive father and into a community of unusual women who keep bees, has won Lamia a Golden Voice 2003 award. The Dogs of Babel by Carolyn Parkhurst (Time Warner Audiobooks, 2003). Reader Erik Singer takes us through a story of an accident witnessed only by the family dog. Singer’s lush voice brings to life a tale told through flash backs and regret. Birdsong by Sebastian Faulks (Chivers Press Publishers, 1996). Renowned British actor Peter Firth narrates this World War One story with emotional intelligence. Faulks’ novel was voted one of Great Britain’s top 100 best-loved novels. (BBC’s Big Read list is online at www.bbc.co.uk/arts/bigread.) The Pleasure of my Company, a Novel by Steve Martin (Books on Tape, 2003). A gentle, isolated man slowly learns to connect with the world. Authors are seldom able to read their own works as well as trained narrators, but comedian Steve Martin reads his book in a stimulating, thoughtful fashion. Dave Barry does Japan by Dave Barry (Dove Audio, 1992). TV comedian Arte Johnson does a bang up job of bringing this quintessential Dave Barry work to life in a humorous and sardonic reading. Big Mouth and Ugly Girl by Joyce Carol Oates (HarperCollins, 2002) Audio books with full casts are becoming increasingly popular. This one is narrated by actors and real life husband and wife Chad Lowe and Hilary Swank. This is a story of high school life, including a possible Columbine connection that starts as a lunchtime discussion and is blown up by rumor and innuendo, to the detriment of all. --Jean Drabbe Barnett * Selected Travel: Read Your Way Through China. Nonfiction (915) and FictionDo you dream of traveling to exotic destinations? Consider traveling through China in comfort and style: Just pack up some books, hike over to your favorite armchair, and settle in. This article reviews five books on China written from various perspectives and in various eras. The first two are from diaries written three-quarters of a century apart. The other three offer different viewpoints of life on the Yangtze River. Preview of the titles: Vanished Kingdoms by Mabel H. Cabot (2003) begins in 1921. Frederick Wulsin, under the sponsorship of the National Geographic Society, began a five-month exploration and biological specimen gathering venture in the province of Shansi, a journey of 525 miles from Peking. He and his wife, Janet, marched the entire length of the province and camped in 29 different places. A subsequent grant from the Society funded an additional two-year trip into the Kwiechow region of southwest China into the Gobi desert. The extraordinary part is that the book is written from Janet Wulsin’s diaries. As Cabot states, “Women explore differently from men; they often let their instincts guide them following the trail wherever it leads. Janet Wulsin was no exception.” Janet took many of the photographs in an era when travel to Tibet was true exploration. They were allowed to photograph the interiors of many Tibetan lamaseries, including Kumbum, Labrang, and Choni, some no longer in existence. The Wulsin Collection was donated to the Harvard Peabody Museum in the 1950s. It contained more than 1,900 photographs, negatives, and lanternslides, many of which were used in this book. Their photographs are unique because they offer a rare glimpse of a part of China’s visual past that few westerners have experienced. Edited by Janet’s daughter, Mabel. H. Cabot, Vanished Kingdoms tells of a journey made on foot, by camel, mule train, and on rafts outfitted with inflated yak skins, carrying the 1,400 specimens in crates waterproofed with pigs blood. Janet worked along with Frederick in preserving specimens and developing and cataloging photographs on the strenuous trip. Janet’s diaries and letters are as illustrative as the photos themselves. She writes of the festival of Cham-ngyon-wa at a Buddhist lamasery at Choni. Towering panels made of chilled yak butter featuring astrological and mythological deities are illuminated at night by yak butter candles. The heat of the candles rotated a little prayer wheel of the temple, inscribed with the traditional prayer, “oh, lotus flower, Amen.” This book is meant to be savored in small pieces like a fine chocolate, so that you may enjoy all the photographs and delightful narrative from a more slowly paced life than that of the 21st century. Another travel diarist, Paul Theroux, also covered the far corners of China from Tibet to Shanghai, but using a more modern mode of transportation, the railroad. Theroux travels all the major rail lines of China in the late 1980s, after Mao’s Cultural Revolution in Riding the Iron Rooster (published in 1988). He weaves historical background and unusual facts into his tale, delivering a series of unique snapshots of almost every part of the country. From Qindao, the site of a German governor’s residence, modeled after the Kaiser’s palace, to the fact that that the Chinese find it useful to manufacture steam engines, spittoons and quill pens for modern day use, this book is an enticing journey describing many a traveler’s frustration and delight. A good travel journal not only paints a picture of the country, but can also give autobiographical insights into the author’s life. Because, as Theroux states, “Travel is frequently a matter of seizing the moment. It is personal. Even if I were traveling with you, your trip would not be mine. Our accounts of the journeys would be different.” Theroux’s quote exemplifies his travel style, a journey of personal interactions with the Chinese, making it an epic of China itself, not just another travelogue. Indeed, China’s name, The Middle Kingdom, referring to the ancient theory of a flat earth surrounded by inhospitable and unearthly borders, still describes the vastness of Theroux’s present day journey. In the center of the Middle Kingdom is the Yangtze River. The following three titles show the interweaving of the past and present in life on the river. In The River at the Center of the World (1996), author Simon Winchester, the Asia-Pacific editor of Conde Nast Traveler, a geologist by training, and a 10 year resident of Hong Kong, travels up the 3,900 miles of the Yangtze with his Chinese guide, Lily. Winchester writes about everything along the riverbank, narrating historical incidents and tales embedded in the river. He relates the geologist’s view of the formation of the Great Bend (of the river) at Shigu, “…simply the work of tectonics…” But there is also the Chinese legend: the Great Bend is the work of an emperor, Yu the Great, who placed Cloud Mountain at the point of the bend to keep the river from flowing out of China. Traveling to the headwaters of the Yangtze in Tibet, Winchester experiences weather extremes, car breakdowns, the bureaucracy of the Chinese police, and the beauty of the alpine-like peaks of the Tanggula Range; all in the center of the Middle Kingdom. Peter Hessler’s book, River Town: Two Years on the Yangtze (2001), depicts life in one place on the Yangtze River, Fuling, an industrial city in Sichuan province. It is a place that has not been visited by waiguoron, or foreigners, for the last 50 years. Hessler, a Peace Corps volunteer, writes a thoughtful and humorous memoir of his experience teaching American and English literature to rural students of the Fuling Teachers College. He writes, “Few passengers embark at Fuling…and so Fuling appears like a break in a dream—the quiet river, the cabins full of travelers drifting off to sleep, the lights of the city rising from the blackness of the Yangtze.” Yet Fuling is a culturally changed town in the aftermath of the death of Deng Xiaopeng, the return of Hong Kong to the mainland, and plans to construct the Three Gorges Dam on the Yangtze. Many of the residents of Fuling face resettlement from the construction of the dam, originally proposed by Sun Yat-Sen in 1919. Known to the local townspeople as Ho Wei, Hessler gradually overcomes the local resistance to waiguron, eating in local noodle shops and conversing with those curious about his daily journal writing. While learning about a new culture, he teaches his students Beowulf and Shakespeare. The continual conflict between communist ideology and the liberal influence of Peace Corps volunteers was most aptly characterized in the English department’s banning of the staging of a Chinese version of Don Quixote. Hessler says, “…without our influence there certainly would not have been a Communist Party member with the English name Mo Money,” the star of the production. A young American engineer envisions the Three Gorges Dam in John Hersey’s fiction work, A Single Pebble (1956). The dam would change a way of life endured for centuries by villagers along the Yangtze. The engineer, also the narrator of the story, travels in a junk pulled by 40 trackers, men who manually tow barges and junks across the rapids and gorges of the Yangtze River. His task is to find the best spot for a hydroelectric project. Of the path the trackers follow through one gorge, he says, “Chinese rivermen had been satisfied for a millennium—for more than 5 times the age of my native country—to use this awful way of getting through the Wind-Box Gorge.” “Old Big,” the owner of the junk, his wife Su-ling, the cook, and the head tracker, Old Pebble, draw the young engineer into the rhythm of river culture, and he emerges in awe of the cliffs of the Three Gorges. He says, “My career, engineering, seemed only nonsense here. Nothing—absolutely nothing—could be done by man’s puny will for this harsh valley littered with gigantic rocks.” Although the engineer writes a favorable report for building the dam, “It was dismissed and I was tagged by sound men as impractical…The dam is still to be built. It will be, one day—of that I am sure.” Beautifully written, the book is still relevant to the eternal conflicts of man versus nature, and progress versus traditional culture. --Rosemary Conor * Selected World War I: In Flanders Fields. Nonfiction and Fiction; Various mediaIf you are in the mood for a different kind of armchair travel, I suggest creating your own kind of “time traveling” via a smorgasbord of materials, chosen intentionally to facilitate your exploration of that eternal question: “What must it have been like to have lived back then?” Delving into some background will allow you to embed yourself in the time period – and will allow you to kinesthetically feel closer to the characters – and to the real people – you will encounter in your reading. The first thing is to pick a time. For the purposes of this review, I have chosen the period of World War I – it is becoming so remote from our current generations as to seem almost incomprehensible. Next, you want to choose a range of material from different genres to try to evoke for yourself a good understanding of the period. Here are my choices (and why): Check out the Web: www.firstworldwar.com - this is an excellent site for all kinds of multimedia information on the Great War. Especially interesting are the audio and video clips. Then spend some time with Fields of Memory: A Testimony to the Great War, by Anne Roze (1999) – for photographs of the battlefields of France as they are now. For contrast, go through the encyclopedic World War I In Photographs (Carlton Books, 2002). These photos will give you real faces to remember as you read about the fictional characters in the novels. Next, take some time to either read or listen to the poetry of the lost poets of WW I – there were some great ones, and their verses, penned in the trenches, are a powerful testament to the loss of their talent. I recommend Great Poets of World War I, by Jon Stallworthy (2002). If you’re up for it, try a biography for the period. One that will give a slightly different perspective is Vera Brittain’s Testament of Youth, published first in 1970. The book has also been recorded on cassette. London Film Productions made the book into a film that is available at the library. Brittain was a VAD (Voluntary Aid Detachment) nurse, who lost her fiancé, her brother, and her closest friend in the War. (Did you know that Great Britain lost 658,000 in those 4 years of war?) This memoir is a vivid evocation of the passionate feelings and convictions of ‘The Lost Generation.” Now you’re ready to “time travel” with these fiction works that I recommend as the “best of the best:”
This multilayered, multimedia kind of “time travel” is guaranteed to make your reading of great novels even more enjoyable – by providing a rich bed of context. But be careful! It may take you in directions you had never imagined! Just don’t forget to come back…--Pat Chupa
Here are two books that seem entirely different yet share some similarities. Both are second books by local authors and both are self-published. I must admit to having had a prejudice against self published books. Their merit may only exist in the judgment of the possibly deluded author. Having read a great deal of absolute trash from the established publishing industry and some very good self-published books, I have revised my opinion. Both books could have benefited from a bit more editing but so could the popular Da Vinci Code. That book had terrible writing but a rollicking good story that really moved along. Thinking back to Literature 101, storytelling around the campfire is where all that "Literature" with a capital "L" began. So move in closer to the warmth and maybe roast a couple of marshmallows… "Imprudent
Zeal" by Alec Clayton. Self-Published, 2004. In the 1960s artist Lane Felts flees the South to New York City after being jilted by his lover Palmer Jackson. He falls under the spell of Scully McDonald, a failed seminarian who runs Everything for Everybody, a grassroots organization that houses the homeless and feeds the hungry. Scully launches prostitute Becca McDonald in a direction that leads to redemption. McKenzie, Becca's daughter, becomes a successful gallery owner in Seattle. While searching for her father Scully, she represents both Palmer and Lane. More coincidences than a Dickens novel, but smoother and more believable. The characters are complex emotionally and have depth. I enjoyed Alec Clayton's second novel as much as the first ("Until the Dawn") and look forward to his third. A tour de force of autobiographical fiction. "Cougar Camp: A Buck Logan Suspense Novel" by J. R. Stoddard. Cougar Publishing, 2004. "Cougar Camp" is about as far from "Imprudent Zeal" as you can get politically and morally—as far as "red states" are from "blue states." Here's a great tale for readers of Backwoods Home Magazine and Tom Clancy novels. Mr. Stoddard was a Naval Flight Officer, coaches swimming teams and is an avid outdoorsman. In a time when cougars stalk children at bus stops on Johnson Point or snatch salmon from fisherman along the Kalama River, Stoddard became intrigued with why the great cats are becoming more confrontational with humans. The popular idea is that humans are moving into cougar habitat. But. Stoddard has discovered several other complex and subtle factors. In the novel, Buck Logan and his son Eric decide to go cougar hunting. The narrative of this hunt and the other characters they run across skillfully blend an exciting story with the natural history of the cougar. All incidents in the book are based on actual cougar/human interaction, compressed in time and space. Either plunging into the trackless wilderness or stepping out into our suburban backyards on a greenbelt, we'd best remember that the cougars are out there and that they are far more aware of us then we are of them. Take a plunge off the bestseller lists and sample some of the self-published books. You may be pleasantly surprised, enlightened and entertained. Both these books are available through your local library and bookstores. --L. Hamburg What to Read Next? Library Offers Online Help for Curious Readers. TRL Online Book & Author Information
"I've read all of Tony Hillerman's books. Who else writes mysteries set in the Southwest and featuring Navajo Indians?"
"My book group is discussing Cry, the Beloved Country. Where can I find information about the author?"
"I read a wonderful book 20 years ago, but I can't remember the author or the title. Can you help me find it?"
Yes! At Timberland Regional Library we can help you find all this and more. Better still, you can help yourself to a wealth of information online anytime. Just go to www.trlib.org and click on "Reference Resources" to get started.
Timberland subscribes to three databases designed especially for readers. These are available on computers at all 27 libraries, but you can also use them at home, at work or wherever you have Internet access and a library card.
The most versatile of these databases is called NoveList. When you click on the Start button, you'll see a number of ways to search. For the Tony Hillerman question, you can choose the first link, "Find a Favorite Author."
A search for Tony Hillerman results in 18 titles. Clicking on the first one, The Blessing Way, you'll see a button at the top of the page that says "Find Similar Books." Clicking there, you'll get a list of subject headings.
If you select the subjects "Mystery stories, American"; "Navajo Indians"; and "New Mexico," the NoveList search engine returns a list of hundreds of titles. High on the list are books by Aimee and David Thurlo, featuring Ella Clah, a detective with the Navajo Police.
Another way to find similar authors on NoveList is to look at the "Author Read-alikes." This link from the main search page brings up dozens of articles, listed alphabetically by author. Each article describes the author's books and suggests similar writers.
NoveList is also a great resource for finding those elusive titles of books read long ago. Using the "Describe a Plot" search, you can enter a series of words describing what you remember about the book. Narrow your search, if desired, by limiting it to certain age levels, publication years or even the number of pages.
Recently a woman called the library looking for a book she remembered about a magician who was a serial killer. In NoveList I entered the plot words "magician serial killer."
The first book that came up was The Vanished Man by Jeff Deaver, and that was indeed the book she wanted to reread. I never would have found it in the library catalog, because the word "magician" doesn't appear anywhere in the record for that book.
Another database for finding books is called What Do I Read Next? Though similar to NoveList in the type of information offered, searching it is quite different and can even be somewhat tricky. The key is to search as broadly as possible, avoiding the temptation to search for an exact time period or type of character.
One advantage of What Do I Read Next? Over NoveList is the inclusion of nonfiction titles. This is a big help if you don't remember whether a book was a true story, or if you want to explore a topic in both fact and fiction.
Both databases include lists of recommended and award-wining books. What Do I Read Next? has a category called Librarian Favorites that includes hundreds of book lists. There's even a list called Sled Dog Bibliography that includes fiction and nonfiction for all ages on the subject of sled dogs.
For book clubs, NoveList has a large selection of discussion guides for both adult and teen books. Each guide includes discussion questions and a biography of the author.
For more in-depth author research, try Literature Resource Center. You can search by author and title for biographical information and literary criticism, or find authors based on such criteria as nationality, genre and time period.
Literature is just one of the many topics you can explore online in the library's Reference Resources. You'll also find authoritative, reliable databases for business and investment research, genealogy, car repair procedures and much more.
To learn more about these resources or to get help with searching them, you can call the library's Central Reference department at 704-4636 (in the Olympian calling area, including Shelton) or 1-800-562-6022 (everywhere else). --Susan M. Colowick Ali, Monica. Brick Lane (2003). Fiction This novel has it all: a riveting plot, interesting and often eccentric characters, an intricate setting in the projects (called “estates”) of contemporary London, and writing that sings with interior and exterior dialogue so that the reader fairly wants to converse with the characters. British author Ali’s novel weaves the entrancing tale of Nasneen, an 18-year-old woman who immigrates to England from Bangladesh to satisfy an arranged marriage. This book was chosen as a 2004 Notable Book by the American Library Association and was a nominee for the prestigious 2003 Booker Prize. Ali’s novel is representative of a growing genre of writing produced by second-generation Anglo-East Indian writers both in Britain and the U.S.A. V.S. Naipaul (Half a Life) and Salman Rushdie (Midnight’s Children) are arguably the best known of the older generation of these writers and Chitra Divakaruni (Sister of My Heart) and Hanif Kureishi (The Buddha of Suburbia) are very popular among the newer ones. What these writers have in common is their fresh look at a European and American culture mixing with that of an older and very different Indian culture. Reading about the immigrant experience in the West is such a breathtaking experience when the writing is this powerful. This reader is struck over and over with the tenacity and willpower of these fictional characters, reminiscent of those that one’s own immigrant forbearers must have possessed in order to achieve integration into another culture. And, of course, this further reminds us of what awesome strength of character modern day immigrants must have: the willingness to forsake everything familiar for the hope of a new life in a foreign culture. Brick Lane is available from the Timberland library system in standard book, large-type book, CD, and cassette versions. --Jean Drabbe Barnett Boyle, T. C. Drop City; A Novel. Fiction T. C. Boyle’s books are so different from one another. This one has the strongest narrative line, thus far. It is story telling at its best. Gather around the fire, children… It is also a historical novel, taking place in the distant misty past of the 1960’s. Any attempt to see this era through rose-colored glasses will be thwarted by Boyle as he rubs our noses in the reality of the era. At the beginning of the novel, we are introduced to the inhabitants of Drop City. This is a commune in the Lotus Land of California. Harassed and hounded by the county building and health departments, the commune decides to pull up stakes and head for the last frontier, Alaska. New Age meets pragmatic Alaskan pioneers. Some characters bail out, some adapt and a few even die. As everyone muddles through the first harsh winter, no one comes out the other side unchanged. Boyle isn’t known for writing sequels, but I hope he returns to these characters again. Even though the book came to a satisfying conclusion, I keep wondering what happens next and what became of all the characters. --Lew Hamburg Brichoux, Karen. Coffee and Kung Fu (2003). Fiction Okay, so I have a thing for Jackie Chan’s recent movies featuring him as a cowboy. It’s an odd combination, but I like it. But I didn’t realize how important the kung fu/cowboy combination was until I read this book. Nicci Bradford sees life through her hero, Jackie Chan and his many movies. If all mention of martial arts is set aside, this is really a novel about a young woman immersed in office politics and longing for a more fulfilling life. And who can blame Nicci for wanting to break out of her Boston cubicle? The boss is sleeping around, her friend’s husband is sleeping around and blaming Nicci, and everyone wants to know why she hasn’t hooked up with Mr. Right. UGH! She finds herself caught in a position not unlike Jackie Chan. Should she uphold honor and integrity or sell her soul? By the time you finish this you’ll have renewed faith in the human spirit, you’ll understand the cowboy/kung fu connection and you’ll probably want to set aside some time to watch a Jackie Chan movie. --Patty Wright-Manassee
Isn’t it a kick in the pants when you discover an author who writes a great story with likeable characters? The kind of characters you’d like to take out for a cup of coffee … or a drink. The background is New Orleans, the milieu the restaurant business. Not since Bourdain’s book “Kitchen Confidential” has the food biz been so realistically described. Rickey and G-Man are two self-identified white trash yat (read the book) boys from the rough, wrong side of the tracks, Lower Ninth Ward. They were childhood friends who drifted into the restaurant world’s vast army of service folks, picking up bits and pieces of culinary experience along the way. What sets them apart is that Rickey has drive and G-Man a mellow stability. They share everything, good times and bad, including a bed and the dream of owning a restaurant. That bed part really doesn’t concern the guys and they don’t understand why anyone else should be concerned, be they friends, relatives or co-workers. They don’t think it’s a big deal, why should anyone else? With the aid of a local celebrity chef whose only concern is making money and giving a couple of deserving fellows a helping hand, the dream of their own restaurant may come true. But there are trials and tribulations along the way. These include, but are not limited to: a crazed coked-up ex-boss, bribes, a couple of murders, outstanding warrants and a dessert chef who thinks a death mask of Napoleon made with Camembert ice cream would be just the ticket. At the very end of the book, like the end of a good meal, I discovered a most exciting thing. In the author notes, it mentions that Rickey, G-Man and their families live on in a collection of short stories and also another novel by the author (“The Value of X”). That will be a very satisfying dessert. --L. Hamburg Buchan, Elizabeth. Revenge of the Middle-Aged Woman (2003). Fiction/Humor Although I have very little in common with the main character of this lively tale of personal disaster and triumph, I found it impossible to put down. Rose, a newspaper editor, is happily living her life and believes that Nathan, her husband of 25 years, is equally satisfied, when totally out of the blue he announces he is leaving her for Minty, the assistant literary page editor she has been mentoring. This blow is rapidly followed by several other ego shaking events, until Rose wonders if her life has been all an illusion. She spends many hours reprising events and the people she knows trying to find out where everything went wrong. In flashbacks we see her growing up with her widowed mother, Ianthe, as a student at Oxford with her first love Hal, newly married to a young Nathan, enjoying a cozy family life with her husband and their children, Sam and Poppy. Rose appeared to be the nearly perfect woman, with a close to perfect life, successfully juggling husband, children, career, house, and garden. Revenge of the Middle-Aged Woman could be a depressing saga, but for the lively and sometimes humorous way in which Elizabeth Buchan tells Rose’s story. The characters are multi-faceted and believable and you will care about what happens to Rose, Nathan, their family and friends. Is it true that the best revenge, as the Spanish say, is living well? --Patricia C. Harper Chabon, Michael. The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay (2000). Fiction Long before anyone questioned the realism of computer-animated characters in a movie, there was Wil Eisner. Before a Patriot Act protected American society, the U.S. Senate Committee on Juvenile Delinquency was shielding American youth. The time period from the 1930s thru the 50s, “Comics Golden Age and the Decline,” is the setting for Michael Chabon’s award winning novel, The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay. The course of Chabon’s story is the partnership of two cousins, Samuel Clay and Josef Kavalier and their rise as comic book artists. The cousin’s success stems from the creation of a comic book hero named the Escapist. The Escapist is part Harry Houdini, part Superman and part Alter Klayman, “the strongest Jew in the World,” and Sam’s father. The Escapist battles crime and injustice in its most evilly conceived form, the Fascist Forces of Nazi Germany. The cousins’ fortunes also allow Joe, who has left his family behind in Czechoslovakia, a means to continue his fight. Part of his fight is with the Germans who have taken his family from him. The cover of the premier issue of the Escapist depicts the hero punching out Adolph Hitler. However, Joe is not able to win his other fight: The obsessive guilt he has from deserting his family knocks him out time and again. Chabon mimics comics both in his story and his style. Much of the novel parallels true events of pre-World War II history. Many of the comics of the time were the products of Jewish Americans and European immigrants. While the United States and the mainstream media of the time were practicing nonintervention, comic book heroes had already declared war. After all, Superman, the creation Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster, two young men whose actual creative style was very similar to Joe and Sammy’s fictional one, was an immigrant himself. The author also uses a comic book pace, particularly early in the novel. The reader can visualize the action as if portrayed in fast moving sequenced frames. Chabon tells a tale of escape. The escapes come in many forms. Escape from Nazi controlled Europe and escape from Mother controlled Brooklyn. Magical escapes from handcuffs and straightjackets and reality escapes from the “invisible chains” of social norms. Early in the story, master magician, Bernard Kornblum tells his young apprentice, Josef Kavalier: “Never worry about what you are escaping from, reserve your anxiety for what you are escaping to.” Initially, Sammy looks to escape his tedium and Joe his peril by means of fantastic adventure and financial reward. Eventually, the cousins need to escape the wonders of their new life with a return to the nondescript. Joe finds his desolate refuge in Antarctica; Sammy in suburbia. While the theme of the story is escape, the undercurrent is “why”. When the cousins first set out to create their hero Sam tells Joe, “It’s not what or who. It’s gotta be why.” Throughout the story, this why, the reason to struggle, love or even live shadows the action. Ironically, when Sam and Joe have their epiphany and begin to shape the Escapist, they come up with what, where and how but no why. That will come later. Chabon’s dialogue is clever. His descriptions are sharp. He gives us our first glimpse of Samuel Clayman by writing, “He slouched, and wore clothes badly; he always looked as though he had just been jumped for his lunch money.” However, his greatest skill is his ability to write with intimate knowledge of his characters, their surroundings and most importantly their thoughts and feelings. Throughout any Chabon novel, whether he’s describing Portland or Pittsburg; baseball or editing, he writes as if he’s had personal experience with the subject. While reading The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay, I felt as if I was looking over the cousins’ shoulders as they developed their art. When finished with the story, I needed to read comics again and this time examine the art and method. I needed to know more about the Golden Age of Comics and more about “the Golem” of Joe’s past. Do yourself a favor. Read this book. You deserve the escape. --Mike McGowan Chazin, Suzanne. Fireplay (2003). Fiction Ever wonder about how fire investigators figure out if a fire is arson or accident? Here’s a chance to get an inside look at fire, firefighting and fire investigation. Fireplay by Suzanne Chazin is the latest book in a series that features fictitious fire investigator Georgia Skeehan. Skeehan, like many of her coworkers, is a second generation firefighter. Her father fought fires along with many of her coworkers. But now that Skeehan has moved off the front lines and become an investigator – the only female investigator in her department – she is forced to take on a different role. In her previous stories, The Fourth Angel (Putnam, 2001) and Flashover (Putnam, 2002), readers got to see Skeehan go head to head with arsonists and chauvinistic coworkers. In Fireplay the smart and confident investigator goes undercover with the FBI to investigate a series of fires that utilize the Venturi effect to create deadly fireballs. What is the Venturi effect? How does it make a fireball that kills people but leaves other parts of buildings unscathed? You’ll just have to read it to find out! --Patty Wright-Manassee Eugenides, Jeffrey. Middlesex (2002). Fiction Eugenides's novel opens, "I was born twice: first, as a baby girl...in January of 1960; and then again, as a teenage boy...in August of 1974." This is Calliope Stephanides’ epic tale of how and why she transformed into Cal. This Pulitzer prize- winning novel, rich in culture and history, spans three generations, starting in the small Greek village of Smyrna (Turkey), and moves to the crime-ridden streets and suburban areas of Detroit. Eugenides writes empathetically about Cal’s awakening awareness of being born a hermaphrodite. A novel with a strong character, original story and eloquent writing style, who can ask for more? Highly recommended. --Cheryl Heywood
A nine-year old Manhattan boy, let out of school early one day, comes home to find a number of phone answering machine messages from his father. His father was attending a breakfast meeting at the Windows on the World restaurant atop the North Twin Towers in New York City, which collapsed on September 11, 2001 after being struck by a jet planes. Oscar Schell decides to hide the answering machine to protect his family from the fatalism and sadness in these messages and, in doing so, discovers a key in a vase in his father’s closet in an envelope marked “Black”. This discovery begins a journey for Oscar, and the reader, around the Boroughs of New York City and through the minds of Oscar’s family, notably his grandmother and grandfather, survivors of the Allied destruction of Dresden Germany during World War II. What really stands out in this novel, besides the precociousness and observations of this remarkably energetic and hyperactive child, is Foer’s use of language, his ability to arrange words in such a way that emotions derive from his sentence structure as well as from the story. In fact, the book is full of graphics that enhance the story and reflect the text and even suggest emotional content. Oscar’s inventiveness is boundless and often tender: at one point he dreams up the idea of a drainage system that would run underneath the bed pillows of every household in Manhattan to collect the tears of people who cry themselves to sleep because he, Oskar, crying and grieving for his dead father, has trouble sleeping There have been many books about 9/11 and a fair number have that event as a backdrop to a portrait and examination of the personal grief experienced by those whose loved ones died, but few are novels, and almost none are adult novels featuring a child as the main protagonist. Jonathan Foer is a young author, in his late twenties, and his remembrance of childhood is keenly felt in this eccentric and wonderful novel. In Foer’s previous novel, “Everything is Illuminated” (Houghton Mifflin, 2002), he used himself as the main character who travels to the Ukraine to find the woman who saved his grandfather from the Nazi’s. He is accompanied by a Ukrainian guide whose use of English is inventive and formidable; the talking book edition (Recorded Books, 2002) of “Everything is Illuminated” is both hilarious and shocking, the more for the wondrous narration of Jeff Woodman and Scott Shina. The book won numerous literary awards and will soon be released as a motion picture. Let’s hope that “Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close” has a similar fate. Foer’s novels are available at your Timberland Regional Library in printed and talking book format. --J. Barnett Frankel, Valerie. The Accidental Virgin (2003). Fiction Stacy Taylor, employee of thongs.com, is enraged when her best friend sends her an online column that suggest she will be re-virginized if she goes a full year without practicing her loose morals. Worrying that her workaholic life has interfered with her formerly romantic self, Stacy chases down every man (and a woman) she can introduce herself to over the next week to prevent reaching maiden status. Her unlucky take on Sex in the City brings the reader on a series of misadventures that make Stacy's Manhattan feel like Dorothy's Oz. If you enjoy contemporary chick-lit romance this racy story delivers a comedic post-feminist tale. --Courtney Bennett Haddon, Mark. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time (2003). Fiction If you find it difficult to function in this increasingly complex world, try seeing it though the eyes of a 15-year old autistic child. In this arresting coming-of-age novel, author Mark Haddon displays a stunning ability to get inside the world of young Christopher John Francis Boone, living with his mother, father, and pet rat, Toby, in small-town Swindon, England. Christopher admires Sherlock Holmes, and is launched on his odyssey – and the writing of his book about his experiences- by the event of the title: the murder of his neighbor’s dog. As Christopher writes, "I said I wanted to write about something real and I knew people who had died but I did not know any people who had been killed, except Mr. Paulson, Edward’s father from school, and that was a gliding accident, not murder, and I didn’t really know him. I also said that I cared about dogs because they were faithful and honest, and some dogs were cleverer and more interesting than some people. Steve, for example, who comes to the school on Thursdays, needs help to eat his food and could not even fetch a stick. Siobhan asked me not to say this to Steve’s mother…" Christopher’s literal view of the world makes this an endearing, wryly humorous and captivating read, with a main character that will steal your heart, and leave you cheering for him before he’s through. He does discover the solution to the mystery--but it turns out to be something much more than about a dog in the night. And you will find, in the end, that you have learned volumes about what it really means to be Special. --Patricia Chupa Johnson, Diane. Le Divorce (Cassette edition, 2003). Fiction Le Divorce is a romp! Witty, wise and funny, it chronicles the various ways Americans and French misunderstand each other. It is the story of two sisters: Isabel Walker, the quintessential mini-skirted California girl and Roxy, her dreamy poetess sister. Isabel arrives in Paris to visit and finds Roxy distraught. Her French husband has walked out on her for another woman. To add to the distress, Roxy is pregnant! Isabel soon finds herself caught up in this French comic-tragedy, while trying to help Roxy deal with the cheating husband, her French in-laws and the wrangling involved in any divorce. The situation gets more complicated when Isabel gets involved in her own romantic intrigues with a Frenchman. As she begins to enjoy all things French, Isabel helplessly watches Roxy’s life spiral down. As in real life, the characters in this book are flawed, carnal desires collide and no one is spared the writer’s sharp wit and frank observations. No one can walk away from this novel without a richer idea of French and American cultural differences. Actress Suzanne Toren capably narrates this delightfully witty novel on the clash of American and French cultures. Le Divorce is a pleasure. Diane Johnson is the author of fiction and nonfiction books and a two-time finalist for the Pulitzer Prize (Persian Nights for fiction and Terrorists and Novelists for nonfiction.) and the National Book Award (Lying Low for fiction and Lesser Lives for biography.) Le Divorce was originally published in 1997 and released on cassette in 2003, to coincide with the release of the movie adaptation. --Carrie Dye
Sometimes, even in the most organized and fulfilled life, a single event can shatter all routine, all illusion of safety and comfort. This happens to Margaret, the elderly main character in Seattle writer Stephanie Kallos’ debut novel “Broken for You”. Reclusive Margaret lives alone and lonely in a Seattle mansion; she spends most of her time dusting rooms which contain her long deceased father’s expensive antique collections of porcelain – dishes, cups, figurines, and vases. Surreal memories of her dead young son and the omnipresent ghost of her eccentric and beautiful mother are her only companions. Upon learning that she has a malignant, inoperable brain tumor, Margaret decides to stop playing it safe; she begins by advertising for a boarder to share her huge house. Into her life steps Wanda Hughes, a theatrical stage manager who, abandoned in youth by her parents, and, recently, by her lover, Peter, came to Seattle to find him. Eventually, Margaret collects more boarders and a full house leads her to a fuller and most interesting life. The collection of boarders, like the collection of porcelain, are fragile in some ways, stunning in others: a gangly, tall British registered nurse, a gay Southern chef, a hotel valet come yoga master (who becomes Margaret’s devoted boyfriend), and Wanda’s technical assistant in the theater, wholly in love with Wanda. As time goes on, Margaret investigates how her father obtained his porcelain collection and discovers that most of it was bought, cheaply, during the 1930s in Europe from the estates of Jewish Holocaust victims. In a scene worthy of Kurt Vonnegut, Margaret invites Wanda to a champagne and china destruction party where they both find it perversely satisfying to destroy the seemingly enduring but easily breakable objects d’art. As they throw the china against a back garden wall, they feel some of their personal demons escaping into the destruction. When TV’s Today Show asked author Sue Monk Kidd (“Secret Life of Bees” and “Mermaid Chair”) for a title to recommend for their December 2004 Book Club, she named “Broken for You” saying “…it is a story that explores the risks and rewards of human connection and the hidden strength behind things that only seem fragile”. The book received one of five book awards for 2005 from the Pacific Northwest Bookseller’s Association. Kallos’ website (www.stephaniekallos.com) lists her awards and appearances and a very quirky and insightful bio written by the author and entitled “directions to where I live.” For this reader, this bio is reminiscent of Wanda in “Broken for You” – funny, irreverent, and touching. “Broken for You” is available in book and talking book formats. Kennedy, Patricia Moran. The Loving Tree: A Story of Love, Loss, & Transformation for All Ages (2004). Fiction In our lives, if we are lucky, we have a circle of support, people we love and trust. Inevitably this circle will change, sometimes much sooner than seems fair. Local writer Patricia Moran Kennedy's The Loving Tree, with illustrations by local artist Kathy Campbell, shows that although a person is not with us in substance they can leave a legacy which will always provide nourishment and support. This marvelous little book of few pages and graceful pencil drawings would be a great help to people of all ages who are dealing with the loss of a loved one. -- Pat Harper
Oh, the pressure on the writer who has a runaway bestseller to write another one – and soon! And, oh, the critical fussiness if the next novel if it is completely different from that first one –“it’s very good but just not flat in your face as good as that first one”, the critics murmur, damning with faint praise. But then, the public, the real critics of record, love the second book, some even more than the first. In fact loyal readers and fans keep the title on the New York Times bestseller list from the moment it comes out in April 2005. Then, some critics take another hard look at the book and decide, well, yes, it is a remarkable work, beautifully written, we never said it wasn’t. The fickle duo-worlds of literary fiction breathe a sigh of relief: a well-loved author is still on the great writers team. Such is the case with “The Mermaid Chair”, Sue Monk Kidd’s much-anticipated second novel after her debut fiction work, “The Secret Life of Bees”. Just as bees played the role of metaphoric muse in her first novel, so this tale is woven around the mythos of a beautiful and mysterious chair ornately carved with mermaids and dedicated to a saint who, legend claims, was a mermaid before her conversion. The conventional life of the main character, Jessie Sullivan, is changed by her mother’s startling and enigmatic act of violence. What transpires when Jesse returns to her childhood home on Egret Island, SC, involves traumatic childhood memories, a Benedictine Brother with whom she falls in love, and an examination of her own life and art. The crux of the matter here is that Jesse feels lost in a colorless marriage. Her abiding love for her husband as friend is overshadowed by the lack of passion she feels for him: “Hugh and I had gone through our days with such good intentions, but with the imagination leaking out of our togetherness. We’d become exceptionally functional partners in the business of making a life. Even in the hidden business of being what the other one needed: good father, good daughter, little girl in a box. All those ghosts that hide in the cracks of a relationship.” When she meets Brother Thomas, he awakens in her all the excitement and desire she once felt for her husband. What happens is predictable, but how Hugh, Jesse, and Thomas play it out and cope afterwards is a wise and magical message. The Mermaid Chair is available in regular, large print, and talking book editions at local Timberland Regional Libraries. Kidd’s first three books, all well respected, even beloved, are nonfiction memoirs of her spiritual journey: “God’s Joyful Surprise: Finding Yourself Loved” (Guideposts and Harper & Row, 1987); “When the Heart Waits: Spiritual Direction for Life’s Sacred Questions” (Harper & Row, 1990); and “The Dance of the Dissident Daughter” (Harper, 1996. --J. Barnett
1964 was quite a year: Medicare was introduced, Alaska was hit by a giant earthquake, the Ford Mustang took to the highways, the Beatles came to America, and a new TV series, Gilligan’s Island, was a big hit. Most importantly, 1964 also saw the passage of the 24th Amendment to the United States Constitution, the Voting Rights Act and the enhancement of civil rights throughout the country, but most especially in the South. This is the milieu in which Sue Monk Kidd, herself a native-born Southerner, set her coming of age novel, The Secret Life of Bees (Viking Penguin, 2002). The pitch-perfect narrator of the story is Lily Owens, a motherless 14-year-old. Her search for love and guidance is the heart of this novel. Her father, T. Ray, an angry peach farmer, claims that she, Lily, is responsible for her mother’s accidental death. Rosaleen, the strong and spirited African-American woman who Lily calls her “stand-in mother”, tries to register to vote in their rural North Carolina town, only to be jailed and beaten in the attempt. When Lily successfully breaks Rosaleen out of jail, they run away to Tiburon, SC, where Lily hopes to find out more about her mother’s history. Her only clue to this destination is a picture of the Black Madonna that Lily found among her mother’s few remaining effects, items she keeps hidden from T. Ray. On the back of the keepsake is written the town’s name. In Tiburon Lily and Rosaleen are taken in by a trio of beekeeping African-American sisters. The sisters’ spirituality and their art and skill of beekeeping teach Lily about self reliance and love, and the satisfying continuity of an unselfish and well-run community. There are over 4 million copies of this novel in print and it was on the New York Times bestseller list for 80 weeks. The book has been on the New York Times trade paperback bestseller list for two and a half years. It has been translated into more than 20 languages. BookSense, the organization of independent bookstores, chose it as their 2004 book of the year. A movie version is forthcoming from Fox Searchlight. But this novel goes beyond popular; it’s exceptional, a new classic. Timberland Regional Library has chosen The Secret Life of Bees as the book for its first system wide all-community-reads program, Timberland Reads Together. This celebration of reading, to be held during September and October 2005, will include discussions of the book in each of the 27 Timberland community libraries and in some local bookstores as well as an array of presentations related to the book: beekeeping, civil rights, the family, and other topics. Full information is on the TRL web site: www.trlib.org The Secret Life of Bees is available at your local Timberland Regional Library in regular and large print, talking book and Spanish language editions, or at your local bookstore. Olympia’s Barnes & Noble Booksellers, Orca Books, The Fireside Bookstore, and Browsers’ Book Shop are offering discounts on the book to Timberland library cardholders. --J. Barnett Martin, Valerie. Property (2003). Fiction A tense tale told through the eyes of a slave-owning wife, Manon lives with her domineering husband and his deaf child. The child is not Manon’s however, but the son of her wedding present, the feisty slave Sarah. When Mistress Manon’s husband is killed in a slave revolt and Sarah escapes to the North, Manon establishes herself in a new level of independence and dominance in the social hierarchy. Valerie Martin deftly explores issues of gender, race, and independence through this emotionally challenging narrative. --Courtney Bennett McCall Smith, R. A. The No.1 Ladies’ Detective Agency (series) and other "Word-of-Mouth Books". Fiction All of us have read a book based on a recommendation by a friend, family member, or librarian. Sometimes these are dismal failures, other times we realize that we have come upon a real gem! We tell someone else about the book, they read it and mention it to another person, and so on. These jewels are what folks in the book world refer to as "word of mouth books". What is really satisfying about this process is that readers are, in a sense, informing publishers regarding what should be published and what is popular instead of the other way around. In this exchange, readers have real power! And publishers respond by printing more copies of a title that was initially printed in low volume, under 5000 copies usually. No doubt you have read some of these word-of-mouth books. Call It Sleep by Henry Roth was first published in 1934 by Ballou Publishers, went out of print, then was rediscovered and republished in 1960. A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole was posthumously published by LSU Press in 1980, after Toole’s mother brought it to the attention of novelist Walker Percy following her son’s suicide in 1969. Sue Monk Kidd’s The Secret Life of Bees (2002) is a contemporary novel which readers all over America are buzzing about and book groups are devouring, much to the pleasure of Kidd’s publisher, Viking, which had touted this title as being akin to Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird (another word of mouth title published by Lippincott in1960) but had no idea that it would need to be reprinted so soon. A current favorite word of mouth series of books is The No.1 Ladies’ Detective Agency, by Scottish medical law professor and author R. A. McCall Smith. Thus far he has written four novels about the gentle but determined Mma Precious Ramotswe, owner of the first ever woman-owned detective agency in Botswana. The first four titles are The No.1 Ladies’ Detective Agency (1998), Tears of the Giraffe (2000), Morality for Beautiful Girls (2001), The Kalahari Typing School for Men (2002), and most recently, The Full Cupboard of Life (2003). The first three titles in the series are available in paperback (Anchor Books) and the last title was published in hardcover in the U.S. this year by Pantheon. The author is presently at work on the sixth novel with six more to follow. It took American publishers almost two years to figure out what American and Canadian readers had discovered almost immediately: Mma Ramotswe speaks to our hearts and minds in a way that comforts us and helps us feel proud to be human. It’s a misnomer to call these novels mysteries. Although Mma Ramotswe does investigate problems the local people bring to her, these are not the usual sorts of crimes. Some of the problems she "solves" do include adulterous spouses, fraud, and missing children. But, in a larger sense, she is investigating cultural values that get disconnected from well-meaning individuals and she applies common sense and a deep-rooted African sense of right and wrong to her investigations. Along the way, the reader is introduced to Botswana and its people and landscape, and to kindred spirits like Mr. J.L.B. Matekoni, Mma Ramotswe’s erstwhile fiancé, and to her homely and talented young secretary, Mma Makutsi. What is the overwhelming appeal of these books? For one, the characters are finely drawn and easy to recognize. The plot is varied – each investigation is complex and does not seem easily solved. The African landscape is ever present in both its beauty and harshness. Mma’s little white minivan is definitely a known quantity by anyone who has ever owned a beloved but cranky older vehicle. Even the bush tea that Mma Ramotswe loves is now a popular tea here (you can buy it locally). And then there is Africa. Author McCall’s prosaic response to an Internet interviewer on BookBrowse (www.bookbrowse.com) sums it up. When asked what he hopes that American readers will discover about Africa while reading his books he said: "It is a very special country (Botswana) and I think that it particularly chimes with many of the values which Americans feel very strongly about – respect for the rule of law and for individual freedom. I hope that readers will also see in these portrayals of Botswana some of the great traditional virtues in Africa – in particular, courtesy and a striking natural dignity". These books are fairly fast reads, with lots of good humor, wonderful characters, and plots that both intrigue and inform. They are available at your local Timberland Library. Read them, and be sure to mention these books to your friends. After all, that is what makes them word of mouth books. --Jean Drabbe Barnett McCall Smith, R. A. The Kalahari Typing School for Men (CD edition, 2003). Fiction Listening to the CD recording of the fourth book in the No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency series, set in sun-drenched, big-sky Botswana, Africa will warm the chilliest day. Steadfast as always, agency owner Mma Precious Ramotswe applies her intuitive and compassionate ways to solving new cases as well as dealing with more personal matters in the lives of her fiance, Mr. J.L.B. Matekoni, her two adopted children, and her assistant, Mma Makutsi, who opens a typing school to boost her income. McCall Smith once again presents a gently humorous yet respectful viewpoint. The bonus for listening to the recorded edition of the book is narrator Lisette Lecat’s performance. The South-African born actress trained in Europe and Africa and her delivery is both precise and melodic. Hearing how to pronounce the names and places of Botswana is a treat. --Leanne Ingle
Fiction authors have responded to the terrorist acts of 9/11 in various ways, sometimes obliquely. British novelist Ian McEwan’s latest work of fiction, “Saturday”, takes place on February 15, 2003 in London, a month before the current war on Iraq began, and the day of a huge British anti-war demonstration. In London, the scene of this novel, Henry Perowne, a neurosurgeon in his late forties, wakes up very early on the morning of the 15th and looking out his bedroom window, sees a burning plane in the sky. He has a premonition of a 9/11 repeat attack, only to find, later, that this plane was in the midst of a legitimate emergency landing due to an engine fire. Throughout the book, Henry, whose politics are neither left nor right, but certainly conflicted, reasons that London is inevitably going to experience a terrorist attack and that this plane sighting is only a premonition and a brief reprieve. Henry’s thoughts resonate with the reader in light of the recent terrorist bombings in London in July 2005. The story takes place in only one day, but Henry experiences a lifetime in 24 hours, due to an encounter with a young hooligan whose neurological disorder and violent behavior creates a moral dilemma for Henry and a terrorist situation for the Perowne family. The plot highlights the omnipresent fact of the fragility of life and the suspense in this story serves to remind us that personal terrorism comes in many guises and is at the heart of many lives. “Saturday” has been long listed for the 2005 Man Booker Prize, one of the world’s most prestigious literary awards. McEwan’s 2001 novel, “Atonement” won the National Book Critics Circle Award and his 1998 novel, “Amsterdam” won the Man Booker Prize that year. “Saturday” is available in regular, large print, and talking book editions at your local Timberland Regional Library. Moore, Christopher. Fluke: Or, I know Why the Winged Whale Sings. Fiction Christopher Moore is one of the weirdest and funniest humorists around. Consider some of the titles of his previous books: Island of the Sequined Love Nun or The Lust Lizard of Melancholy Cover. Moore takes a story and pushes the weirdness until it stretches credibility to the breaking point. But, somewhere along the way, the reader has suspended disbelief and just enjoys the ride. Nate is a marine biologist, working in Hawaii, who’s specialty is the humpbacked whale. His has been a lifelong search for the answer to the question, why do humpback whales sing? Things begin to get strange when one day a humpback lifts it’s tail to display the words Bite Me. in foot high letters. Offices are trashed, boats sunk and a whale is apparently phoning Nate’s rich benefactor with requests for a hot pastrami and Swiss on rye. With mustard. Moore has a real talent for highlighting minor characters and making them as intriguing as his major characters. The one that comes first to mind is Kona, the faux Hawaiian surfer dude whose mission in life is to become the bong tester for the Rastafarian Air Force. Until a fascination with whales penetrates his herb haze. This book is a rollicking bit of fun. It is available on talking book, which has the added attraction of humpback whale songs at the beginning and end of each side of the tape. --Lew Hamburg
Akhila has been the breadwinner for her family ever since her father died when she was almost through high school. It was she who made sure her younger brothers found suitable wives when the time was right, who created a dowry for the youngest, Padma, and who cared for their mother until she died. At that point her siblings decide she must share her home with Padma and her husband and daughters; no decent woman lives alone in India. “So this then is Akhila. Forty-five years old. Sans rose-colored spectacles. Sans husband, children, home and family. Dreaming of escape and space. Hungry for life and experience. Aching to connect.” On impulse she arranges a solo trip to the seacoast by train, an overnight journey requiring that she travel in a ladies coupé, a compartment with fold-down berths for six. And this is how she chances to meet five other women on their own journeys and to hear their stories, all told with the freedom given by the brevity and finality of their encounter. Janaki is a grandmother, heading home after a requisite visit with her son’s family. Sheela, only fourteen, is traveling to her beloved grandmother’s funeral. Pretty, stylish Margaret teaches chemistry at the school where her husband is headmaster. She’s returning home after dropping him off for his annual weight loss effort at a health clinic. Prabha Devi, en route to a wedding, radiates confidence, contentment and wealth. The sixth passenger in the coupé, last off before Akhila disembarks at her destination, is Marikolanthu, moving to a new city where she will set up home and office for her employer, a foreign, female doctor. Each woman, young, middle-aged and old, speaks of the challenges and self-discovery her life has brought. As Akhila listens she compares aspects of her own life and wonders at the changes the others speak of, seeing herself as stuck and rigid and weak and cut off from the succulence of life. Throughout the novel Nair weaves the colors, scents, tastes and sounds of India, creating a lush, shimmering fabric shot through with the gold of these very ordinary extraordinary women’s spirits. An American woman reading about their experiences cannot help but seethe indignantly at the cultural shackles imposed on them, yet sigh with admiration at the strength and ingenuity by which each finds resolution and inner freedom. And it isn’t as though we don’t face similar dilemmas ourselvesthey’re just contained within a different social framework. One more quote, the “Author’s Note,” needs re-printing here. In some way it is a distillation of the issues facing Indian women. The origins and associations of the word “coupé” also give much to think about. “Until early 1998, there was a special counter for ladies, senior citizens and handicapped persons in the Bangalore Cantonment railway station. And there were ladies coupés in most overnight Indian trains with second-class reservation compartments. Since then, the ladies queue has been abolished in all railway stations. I have also been informed by various railway authorities…that the ladies coupé doesn’t exist any more and that the new coaches are built without the coupé.” --K Blalack
As a reader who has been a member of the same book group for over 25 years, I took a walk down memory lane reading Elizabeth Noble’s book “The Reading Group”, a novel about a brand new book discussion club. It takes time for a group of people to learn how to talk to one another about a book; everyone brings different life experiences and expectations to the conversation. The five women in “The Reading Group” are no exception. They are of different ages and some have careers, some are stay at-home moms, or students. All are in the throes of many changes during the year, mostly unexpected ones. The book is arranged smartly, spanning the course of one year, January through December, with a designated book for each month. Most of the book titles are familiar and many are American novels, curiously, since this is a group of British women. The book discussions move monthly to each woman’s house (with a few exceptions) and, as they offer up their opinions and thoughts about each book, they grow to know each other and form friendships. This is most definitely a book about friendship and how stories can mirror our lives and help us understand our problems. More importantly, this novel affirms the idea that talking about books underscores the fact that humans have pretty much the same issues no matter what their cultural background. Another truth offered up here is that “the classics” often reflect modern values. A good example of such a book is the group’s June book, Willa Cather’s, “My Antonia” with its themes of unrequited love, death, and the ways in which nature inevitably tempers our lives. Ms. Noble has stated that the character of Antonia is her favorite one in literature because “she’s got guts”. Most of the reading group women have “guts” one way or another and by the middle of the book, this reader really cared about them. Check out the author’s website for book club suggestions and an interview with the author at www.elizabethnoblebooks.com/index.html “The Reading Group” is available from your local Timberland library in book and talking book formats. Here is the list of books featured in Noble’s “The Reading Group”:
Heartburn by Nora Ephron, 1983 |
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