A Wrinkle in Time

A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle.
Youth Fiction – Lower Level – L’Engle

2012 year marks the 50th anniversary of one of my all-time favorite books. There was even a whole blog tour about it, to go along with the new 50th Anniversary Commemorative Edition. This has yummy extras, such as a brief bio and memories of L’Engle by her granddaughter Charlotte Voiklis, photos, a facsimile of the manuscript for the first chapter with corrections, and L’Engle’s Newbery acceptance speech.

When I was ten, I got into a fierce argument with my best friend about which was better, Wrinkle or A Wind in the Door and A Swiftly Tilting Planet. I had not read the second and third books yet, but loved Wrinkle so much that I wouldn’t believe her that the second two were as good or better. I saw her point when I finally did get around to reading them, though Mari Ness’s thoughts on A Swiftly Tilting Planet felt like unwelcome disillusion, with criticisms of the book that I couldn’t really disagree with, despite having loved it so hard since childhood. Though Robin McKinley’s Beauty still has to be my most re-read comfort book of all time, I am likely to pick up any of the first three time trilogy books during stressful times.

In case you haven’t read or don’t remember the book, here’s a brief summary of the plot: prickly teenager Meg Murry and her genius kid brother, Charles Wallace, meet up with the popular but surprisingly nice and very smart older boy Calvin in the woods near their property. They also meet with some strange old women who are clearly making a joke of pretending to be witches, but just as clearly really are much more than ordinary humans. These three – Mrs Whatsit, Mrs Who, and Mrs Which (much to Microsoft Word’s chagrin, I am leaving the periods off of the “Mrs”, British-style, as L’Engle intended) – send the three children off to find Mr. Murry, a physicist who went missing while researching the tesseract some years ago. This journey that takes them to many other planets, including ones where the inhabitants are sightless but still have better knowledge of the universe than humans. They see a dark shadow of evil over earth and even more heavily over the planet of Camazotz, where Mr. Murry is being held captive by a disembodied brain called IT. In the end, it’s up to Meg to save the day, Meg who has been used to relying on Charles Wallace for comfort. There’s also a grand mix of theology (implicitly Christian) and science, both real and invented. I love the strong and memorable characters, Meg’s journey to independence and acceptance of herself, and the easy relationship between science and religion, increasingly rare these days. Some people may find the science of the tesseract a little fuzzy, and others say that Charles Wallace’s character could be a little more fleshed out. They may be right, but this is still a book that does so very much well, with a story and characters that stand on their own and give plenty to chew on afterward. L’Engle’s world is one where the Dark is real and ever-present, filled with the knowledge that fight will be hard and still worth fighting, that love (to say it tritely) makes the world go around. Perhaps most importantly to my adolescent self, it shows an unpopular girl (in other ways rather unlike me) turning out OK in not-miraculous fashion and learning to accept herself.

Hope Was Here

Hope Was Here by Joan Bauer
Teen Zone Fiction - Main Level - Bauer
Youth Fiction - Lower Level - Bauer

Hope Was Here is a very touching book. If you like heartfelt fiction then this is the novel for you.

Young Hope Yancey is moving from New York City to Mulhoney, Wisconsin because an unscrupulous boss has cheated her and her Aunt Addie out of their jobs as a waitress and a cook. Now they are scheduled to work at a new restaurant named the Welcome Stairways in "dairy land" Wisconsin. Of course this is a frightening prospect for a 16-year-old. However, Hope is used to change and facing obstacles. She was born premature and abandoned by her mother to her aunt as an infant. Further, she has faced many moves in her life because of her aunt's job changes. Still this move is especially tough for Hope because she was happy in New York with good friends and a fun job. How will she deal with small town living?

When Hope arrives in Wisconsin, everything is so different. The town is small, there are dairy trucks everywhere, and she feels lost. Soon however, Hope becomes mired in a political campaign between the shady town mayor, Eli Millstone, and her new boss, caring G.T. Stoop. G.T. is the owner of the Welcome Stairways and is very ill with cancer. He decides that he must help his town overcome the underhanded dealings of the current mayor by running for office. The whole idea of a sick man running for office tests the town's beliefs in what is or isn't possible. Along the way, Hope learns that all things are possible if you have "hope" and "faith." She also reaffirms what she already knew about life, that it is messy and joyful all at the same time.

Hope Was Here by Joan Bauer won a Newbery Honor in 2001. While the novel definitely offers hope, it does not sugarcoat the highs and lows that come with living. It is a good read for those that enjoy facing life with a positive attitude.

The Coldest Winter

The Coldest Winter:A Stringer in Liberated Europe by Paula Fox
Adult Biography-Upper Level FOX


While the continent of Europe has an incredibly rich history, the Second World War era is one of the most prolifically written about in literature. The drama of the actual war and the immediate aftermath not only speaks to us on the horrific actions mankind is capable of, but also of the enduring hope and strength human beings have in the face of tragedy. In 1946, author Paula Fox visited various European countries and chronicled her experiences in The Coldest Winter: A Stringer in Liberated Europe. Her memoir glimpses into the lives of several ordinary people during her travels.

Paula Fox was only twenty-two years old when she visited Europe in 1946. Her diverse travels saw her visit London, Prague, Warsaw, Paris, and parts of Spain. This book is not for someone looking for in-depth political analysis or debate. While the political atmosphere of Europe was starting to heat up with the communists consolidating their control in several nations she visited, Fox’s comments deal more with the thoughts and outlook of the everyday people she interacted with during this period and her own struggle to understand the world. Many of the people she meets have hauntingly sad stories to tell. On the Polish border, Fox visits an orphanage which houses children who were born in the concentration camps. In Warsaw, she is told how dead bodies will continue to be discovered when the brutal winter season ends. Despite these terrible situations, there are some encounters that are more hopeful. An elderly man tells her how he made an effort to rescue a terrified stray dog stuck on a railroad track. An opera house in Yugoslavia plays a violin concerto so beautifully that the audience is completely enthralled. These kinds of anecdotes may rarely make the headlines or turn the course of human history on their own, but they are a reminder of how ordinary people can rediscover meaning and find hope in life despite catastrophic events. In the current era of uncertainty that is gripping Europe and the world, that is a message more people need to be reminded of.

The Astonishing Secret of Awesome Man

The Astonishing Secret of Awesome Man by Michael Chabon. Illustrated by Jake Parker.
Youth New Book Shelves – Lower Level - CHA

Awesome Man himself takes through a day in the life of… Awesome Man. He describes his costumes, his powers (the “Awesome Power Grip,” aka hugging), and his sidekick dog, Moscowitz. We see Awesome Man beating villains like Radioactive Jell-o from Outer Space and Dr. Von Evil. And then, alas, Awesome Man is beaten by his arch nemesis. He must flee to his secret fortress, a small patch of suburbia in an undersea bubble. After some deep reflection huddled on his bed, Awesome Man realizes that the problem is that he’s out of positrons. He needs to eat to regain his strength! But once on the job again, will he ever stop long enough to reveal his secret identity to the reader? The ending is undeniably sweet. The bright, smooth pictures have occasional retro-feeling dot fills, giving a hint of old-school comics. There are just enough details to let you discover new details in subsequent readings. This is ideal for superhero-obsessed preschoolers and early elementary kids, with just the right blend of action and innocence.

The Ruins of Gorlan

Ranger’s Apprentice. Book 1: The Ruins of Gorlan. By John Flanagan.
Print : Teen Zone Fiction – Main Level – FLANAGAN
CD book: Teen Zone CD Books – Main Level – FLANAGAN
EBook: Visit our Download Page

Will has grown up an orphan, raised in a group of foundlings sponsored by the Baron at Castle Redmont. Now all five of them are 15, and it is Choosing Day, time for them to be chosen as apprentices. Will is small and mischievous, but, believing that his father was a hero knight who died in the battle against the evil Morgarath, his dearest wish is to go to Battleschool and train to be a knight himself. All the other four foundlings are given their wishes, but Will is apprenticed to the Ranger Halt. Rangers are mysterious and much distrusted, even suspected of using black magic. Will is less than thrilled about this assignment, but as the alternative is field labor, he takes it. Of course the apprenticeship itself is lots of hard work, taking care of the menial tasks around the Ranger’s cabin as well as learning volumes of new things. He is learning things like tracking, how to stay hidden moving or holding still, how to use range weapons and to stay out of the line of battle if possible. The Rangers, it turns out, are spies of sort, spending their time in the wilds and small villages in and around the kingdom, keeping track both of political tides and the lay of the physical land. They are, in short, very cool, in a subtle way completely opposed to the flashy, bashy knights. Early on, Will’s story alternates with that of his rival from the castle, the big boy who made it to Battleschool. This boy is bullied very badly, and then takes it out on Will whenever they meet. In a plot turn that seemed inevitable from the beginning, events conspire to make these two the best of friends. Eventually he will proceed to help Halt and a former apprentice defeat some new monsters that Morgarath has sent forth in his latest bid for power.

The intense bullying subplot makes this book in my view inappropriate for younger readers, but it isn’t really any more violent than many other books for older elementary kids and teens, and there are a lot of very good points to this book. It’s got constant action paired with a strong and likeable main character. Even though Will and his friends are all Above Average and it’s a fantasy, the skills are all ones that exist and could be useful in our world – no simple wand-waving here. This series is aimed squarely at teen and perhaps pre-teen boys. Although most of the characters are boys, two of the five foundlings are girls, and they are given real, important careers as well, making it less gender-imbalanced than, say, Lord of the Rings. So far, there’s only the smallest hint of romance. There are ten books in this very popular series, making it perfect for teens who want to be able to immerse themselves in a series before picking a new one. This book is available in print, audio and ebook formats.

Taft 2012: A Novel

Taft 2012: A Novel
by Jason Heller Main Level New Book - Heller

First a quick fact check. In the real world, William Howard Taft lost the Presidency to Woodrow Wilson and left the White House in 1913. He taught at Yale law school until 1921, when he became the first former President to become a Justice on the Supreme Court. He served as Chief Justice from 1921 until shortly before his death in 1930.

In Jason Heller's fanciful Taft 2012: A Novel Taft inexplicably disappears from the White House lawn on the day of Wilson's inauguration and reappears in 2011, disrupting an Obama press conference and getting himself wounded by a secret serviceman. Once he recovers and has his identity scientifically verified Taft begins discovering what he missed during his century's absence. Entranced by all the new technology (How DO they get the cream inside these Twinkies?) but appalled at the state of the country, Taft lets himself get talked into an independent bid for the 2012 Presidential election alongside his Congresswoman great-granddaughter.

Heller intersperses his main text with "tweets" and "television commentary" from fans, enemies, and journalists that serve as commentary on the reaction to Taft's return and struggle with modern political lunacy. Given that we are now in the midst of that lunacy, this entertaining reminder that things weren't always this way provides some much-needed perspective.

The Rope

The Rope  by Nevada Barr

Adult New Book - Mystery Barr

Fans of Nevada Barr’s Anna Pigeon series, rejoice! After the last couple of misses, Barr is back in top form. The Rope has the elements that make the Anna Pigeon series so special -- it features the dual lead characters of nature and a strong woman who appreciates it.
This book is a prequel to the series featuring National Park Service Ranger Anna Pigeon. We learn about her life before she was a Ranger and how her first foray into nature lead her to become one.


In an effort to move on after the loss of her husband, Zach, city girl Anna leaves New York City behind and takes a seasonal job at the Glen Canyon National Recreation Area. One day she goes for a hike and doesn’t return. Her coworkers assume the job was too much for her and she simply packed up and left. Anna, however, finds herself trapped in the bottom of a solution hole, naked, and with no idea how she got there. And with no idea how to get out.


The suspense is constant in The Rope. I am normally a slow reader but I had to force myself to put this book down each night. As always, Barr interweaves glowing descriptions of the park with dark tales of humanity. You feel as if you are with her, on a very beautiful, very scary vacation.

Envy

Envy by Sandra Brown
Adult Fiction- Main Level– BROWN

Maris Matherly-Reed is the daughter of Daniel Matherly, the head of Matherly Press. She is also the wife of Noah Reed, second in command at Matherly Press. Maris is a well respected old fashioned editor, she still believes in going through the unsolicited manuscripts that get sent her way. She is immediately intrigued by the prologue to a book titled Envy and wants more. She takes the time to track down the author, who only sent in his initials (PME) with the manuscript. What Maris does not know is that the author has some unfinished business with Noah and will do anything to settle the score regardless of who gets hurt in the process. What the mysterious author did not count on was falling in love with Maris. Maris unravels the true story about Noah and PME. Will PME have his revenge and get the girl?

A Pair for the Queen

A Pair for the Queen by Barbara Comfort
Adult Mysteries-Main Level - COMFORT


Feisty seventy-seven year old Tish McWhinny tries to live a quiet life with her niece Sophie in the town of Lofton, Vermont in B. Comfort’s A Pair for the Queen. Tish’s serene existence is rattled when her friend Hilary Oats asks Tish for a personal favor. Hilary’s blunderer nephew Bruce is hoping to sell dog themed art at an upcoming dog show and hopes that Tish will create an original painting and try to pass it off as an older, more prestigious piece of work. Tish is hesitant to create a forgery but instead restores an older painting from a junk shop. The painting is a hit but the ruse is in danger of unraveling when the signature “Landseer” appears after Bruce cleans the painting’s corner at the show. Events take a turn for the worse when Bruce is soon found murdered and the painting is stolen. The book does offer up one too many red herrings such as Bruce’s former wife and her new husband, Bruce’s daughter, a city couple looking to manage the general store, and Sophie’s new boyfriend just to name a few. The relationship between the central characters, however, elevates the plot and makes the book a mystery well worth uncovering.

Ruby Red

Ruby Red by Kerstin Gier. Translated from German by Anthea Bell.
Teen Zone New Fiction – Main Level – GIER

16-year-old Gwyneth grown up living life as a normal kid, especially compared to her cousin Charlotte. Charlotte, glamorous and sophisticated, has been trained all her life to prepare her to be a time traveler. Except that Gwyneth turns out to be the one with the time travel gene, something she never wanted. Time travel is dangerous unless controlled – Gwyneth ends up in the same place but a different unknown period in the past for an unpredictable length of time, with only a few minutes of nausea and dizziness for preparation. To counteract them, the secret organization known as the Guardians trains time travelers and owns the Chronograph, a clockwork machine that can send time travelers to a planned place for a planned length of time. Gwyneth is the Ruby, the last of twelve known time travelers, each represented by a jewel. The other time traveler in her generation is handsome 18-year-old Gideon de Villiers. The previous two time travelers, close friends with Gwyneth’s mother, fell in love and are hiding in the past with the only other existing Chronograph. The Guardians want to send Gideon and Gwyneth on missions to meet with all of the previous time travelers and complete the Chronograph – but what will that mean? Should Gwyneth trust the Guardians, or Lucy and Paul, the couple she’s never met but whom her mother trusted? Though the prologue makes it seem that Lucy and Paul are Good Guys, Gwyneth and her best pal and research buddy Lesley have yet to figure out why Lucy and Paul distrusted the Guardians enough to give up their lives in the present. There’s a slowly percolating romance between Gwyneth and Gideon, which helps nicely to make Gwyneth’s choices harder, as Gideon has no reason to distrust the Guardians.

Despite the dangers of time travel and the potential evil nature of the Guardians, the book never gets bogged down in seriousness. There’s the romance, more fun than fraught; Lesley and Gwyneth’s friendship, and – I really loved this part – costumes. The Guardians hire a full-time French costume designer, whose sole job is to make historically accurate clothing for each of the trips back in time, which are all described in detail. I really like the original German cover, right, which I think shows the light-hearted nature of the story a little better. This is the first of a trilogy, all of which are now published in Germany but which English speakers still have to wait on. The translation is done by the inestimable Anthea Bell, who also translated the Inkheart books as well as many others. The time travel, romance and history combined to make this a quite lovely book, and I’m now anxiously waiting for the next installment to arrive.

Three and Out: Rich Rodriguez and the Michigan Wolverines in the Crucible of College Football

Three and Out: Rich Rodriguez and the Michigan Wolverines in the Crucible of College Football  by John U. Bacon

Adult New Nonfiction 796.332 B


The Rich Rodriguez era of Michigan football can best be described as one thing, a nightmare. From the disorganized search to replace Lloyd Carr to the two day media circus surrounding Rich Rod’s dismissal, it’s a three year period we would all like to forget. However, John Bacon was given unfettered access to the program over these three years and now we can relive this period of tumult and learn what really happened. The results will come as no surprise to some, while others will have to begrudgingly accept what has been written here.

It all began with Michigan’s historic loss to Appalachian State and blowout loss the following week at the hands of Oregon. After these losses, public opinion began to turn against Coach Lloyd Carr, who announced his retirement at the end of the 2007 season. The process of finding a new coach was poorly handled as multiple candidates turned down the job. On the morning of the SEC Championship Game, ESPN reported that Michigan’s own Les Miles had agreed to come back and coach the Wolverines. However, Les was preparing his current team, LSU, for that SEC title game and a possible National Championship appearance. Miles held an impromptu press conference that afternoon denying the reports. The real story of that day, revealed in the book, will enrage most Michigan fans.

Rich Rodriguez’s tenure began on the wrong foot and the program was engulfed in controversy and losing for the next three years. Many have placed the blame solely of Rich Rod’s shoulders, but this is a mistake. Certainly he could have done more to help Michigan succeed, but various media members, boosters, and a former coach did whatever they could to undermine Rodriguez. If you would prefer to believe the narrative that Rodriguez was not good enough for Michigan and he alone damaged Michigan football, avoid this book. However, if you want to know what really happened in Ann Arbor from 2007 – 2010, this is definitely the book for you.

The Last Speakers

The Last Speakers: The Quest to Save the World's Most Endangered Languages by K. David Harrison
Adult Non-Fiction Upper Level - 408.9 H

This is a fascinating book, published by National Geographic. It is written by a linguist who traveled around the world to places where indigenous languages are still spoken. He wanted to bring attention to, and preserve, these rare and unknown languages. Of course, along the way he met really interesting people and had exciting adventures in places most of us will never visit. I was especially interested in the Tuvans of Siberia, who are known for their "throat singing." He also visited places like Papua New Guinea, Australia, and Mongolia, among others.

You can leaf through this book at random and learn something interesting on any page!

Once Upon a Cool Motorcycle Dude

Once Upon a Cool Motorcycle Dude written and illustrated by Kevin O’Malley. Illustrated by Carol Heyer. Illustrated by Scott Goto.
Picture Book Shelves – Lower Level - OMA

Two children, a girl and a boy, are assigned to give a school report on their favorite fairy tale. Only as they couldn’t agree on a favorite fairy tale, they decide instead to write their own. The girl starts, telling a romantic tale of the sweet and beautiful Princess Tenderheart, whose beloved unicorn ponies are tragically being kidnapped by a giant. Then the boy interrupts, having a cool motorcycle dude come and battle the giant every night while the princess spins golden thread for him in payment. Then the girl interrupts again, incensed at her princess’s new role. Princess Tenderheart now goes to the gym to pump iron and becomes Princess Warrior, so she can rescue her ponies herself. From here, the interruptions from one side and the other become more and more frequent, until the children find a story and characters that they can both enjoy. The story is funny to start with, and the illustrations really make it. O’Malley draws the two children in a fairly realistic cartoon style with pen and ink. Heyer illustrates the girl’s story in oil paintings that you might find in a straight-up Beautiful Fairy Tale book, except for the obviously little girl elements like having Princess Tenderheart wear only bright pink and purple dresses. Goto illustrates the boy’s story in bright, vigorous pastels where the motorcycle dude and his motorcycle vie for space with the hideous giant and exploding volcanoes. This book was a hit with everyone who saw it, including adults, my son and his K-1 class, and my two-year-old.

Try these other funny, nontraditional fairy tale-inspired picture books, too:

The Princess and the Pizza by Mary Jane and Herm Auch.

Fairly Fairy Tales by Esme Raji Codell. Illustrated by Elisa Chavarri

An Undone Fairy Tale by Ian Lendler. Illustrated by Whitney Martin.

A Discovery of Witches

A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness
Adult Science Fiction-Main Level- Sci Fic Harkness

Diana Bishop comes from a long line of witches dating back to the very first Salem Witch Trial that put her ancestor, Bridget Bishop to death. After her parents’ deaths at a young age, Diana decides to stay as far away from magic as she can, despite her family legacy and the powers that run through her blood. Diana graduates from high school at a mere sixteen years old and enters college. After acquiring her PhD and getting a tenure track position at Yale University, she goes to back to familiar Oxford, England where she once studied abroad, to conduct some more research on the history of science, specifically, alchemy. While at Oxford, she runs into a few…shall we say, creatures, that are after something that she has found in the Bodleian Library. What will happen when Diana is cornered by a warlock, other witches, daemons, and vampires who will do anything to get this magical book, Ashmole 782? Check out, Deborah Harkness’, A Discovery of Witches to find out! This gripping plot will pull you in and bring you to a place of fascination, excitement, and intrigue.

After Life

After Life by Kore-eda Hirokazu
Dvd Collection - Main Level - FOREIGN AFT

What if the afterlife is not what we expect? What if heaven was simply one happy memory from a person’s life that would be repeated for eternity? Would you be able to pick just one memory to take with you to heaven and let go of everything else? This is the premise of the Japanese film After Life . In this world, when a person dies they are sent to a way station building where they have three days to decide on the perfect memory they want to forever relive in heaven. The departed souls are given case worker type individuals to help them along the process and chose their memory. Several of the souls are having trouble making a decision because some feel their lives were empty while others do not think one memory can sum up an entire life. Throughout the story, one of the caseworkers, Takashi, comes to re-evaluate his own afterlife when a client turns out to have married his former fiancée after Takashi was killed in the Second World War.

The film is incredibly low key. It poses many existential questions and naturally examines the nature of life and death. Learning to let go but also to celebrate the goodness in our lives are important themes of the movie. The bureaucratic nature of limbo was both amusing but might seem alarming at first to some people. Would you really want the first part of your afterlife to seem like the start of a job or loan interview? But it is clear that the caseworkers do have compassion and are just trying to comfort these people. The film presents a multitude of life stories from people that come from all walks of life during the client interviews. I have learned that some of the stories were actually real people telling about their lives to the camera. Yet despite all the differences between these people and their stories, they all want the same thing: to simply be happy and find a way to define their lives. That is an uplifting message that can apply to everyone no matter where they are from.

Fallen Grace

Fallen Grace by Mary Hooper
Teen Zone New Fiction Main Level - HOOPER

This story takes place in 1860s London. Grace and her sister Lily are very poor, living in a boarding house in the slums. They sell watercress to make enough to pay their rent and buy something to eat. They are orphans, just trying to stay out of the workhouse and survive on their own. Grace is 15 and her sister is 17. Grace takes care of Lily, though, who is mentally challenged. Lily is constantly taken advantage of by swindlers on the streets.

Grace has her own challenges - having been taken advantage of by a man when they lived in an orphanage, she has given birth to a stillborn baby. It is indirectly through that horrible experience that Grace and Lily find employment with the Unwins, who own a funeral business. It must be the answer to their prayers! Food, lodging, steady work, and a (small) salary each and every week! What they don’t know is that Mr. Unwin saw an ad in the newspaper looking for Lily, who stands to inherit a lot of money from their deceased father (who left for the Americas before he even knew Grace was expected by their mother). He thinks that if he can adopt Lily as his own, he can claim the inheritance on her behalf.

This is a fantastic book! I love historical fiction, and this is top-notch. The characters are interesting and their plight is emotional. It has the perfect balance of description and dialogue, so it is a fast read. Highly recommended!

Hanukkah for Wee Ones

My favorite Hanukkah book for years has been Hershel and the Hanukkah Goblins. I’ll happily pull it out and read it to whoever wants to listen every year. As I noted in my review, though, it’s really too wordy for very young children. This year, I was challenged to find a Hanukkah book that would appeal to two-year-olds. Here are a few I found that look good:

Hanukkah, Oh Hanukkah Illustrated by Olga and Aleksey Ivanov.
Youth Holiday – Lower Level – IVA

The lyrics to the classic Hanukkah song are paired here with appealingly bright acrylic paintings featuring a modern family – grandparents, parents, two children, and a dog. The tune is written out on the first page, so those unfamiliar with (or rusty on) the song can still learn it. It’s bright, bouncy and short while covering the basics of Hanukkah – perfect for young children.

Hooray for Hanukkah by Fran Manushkin. Illustrated by Carolyn Croll.
Youth Holiday – Lower Level – MAN

Here, a menorah tells about growing brighter and brighter on each of the eight nights of Hanukkah, and what its family does to celebrate each night. While still fairly brief, this one has a sentence or two on each page, and so has room to get a little more into the holiday. The pictures show a large and happy early twentieth-century family, done in what looks to my untrained eye like watercolor with colored pencil.

Hanukkah, Oh Hanukkah by Susan L. Roth
Youth Holiday – Lower Level – R

It’s the same classic Hanukkah song, and the music is still included. This smaller format book is illustrated with paper and fabric collage featuring a family of mice. This version has a sweet and clearly handmade look.

Hanukkah: A Counting Book by Emily Sper
Youth Holiday - Lower Level - SPE

This is a counting book - from one to eight, obviously - with the names of the numbers written out in English, Hebrew masculine, Hebrew feminine, and Yiddish. All of the non-English words have American phonetic pronunciation written out as well as the words being written in Hebrew letters. After the shames candle is introduced, the counting proceeds with an appropriate number of Hanukkah-related objects, from one menorah to four dreidels, six heroes, and eight nights, on one page. The facing page is all black, with the numbers in the different language and cutouts of that number of candles, so that they show up brightly against the blackness . The combination of all these elements makes for a sleek, attractive book.

Twelve Deaths of Christmas

Twelve Deaths of Christmas by Marian Babson
Adult Mysteries-Main Level - BABSON


There is a certain chill in the air this holiday season with Marian Babson’s Twelve Deaths of Christmas. The story takes place in a London boarding house filled with a wide assortment of lodgers. There is a retired Major, a foreign student from the Middle East, an American, and several others. But something is not right with one of these seemingly normal characters. One of them has taken their dislike of the constant rushing nature of the holiday too far and has lashed out fatally toward those viewed as deserving punishment. This madman, or women, is on the loose in London. The killer has been able to make his or her crimes appear to be unrelated or even accidents but Detective Knowles is not fooled. He knows that this fiend will keep striking and will get more brazen with each murder. His investigation leads him closer and closer to the boarding house where the occupants inside are preparing a Christmas feast while unaware that one of them plans for this holiday to be everyone’s last. The story is a quick read at less than two hundred pages and the reader is actually clued into the murder’s thoughts in certain chapters which helps build some tension. In all, the book would be a perfect light read for those with a little down time during the hectic holiday season.

Dreams of Joy

Dreams of Joy by Lisa See
CD Book Shelves - Main Level - SEE

Dreams of Joy by Lisa See
Adult New Book Display - Main Level - SEE

I listened to the audio version of this book, which was fantastic! The reader, Janet Song, was amazing. She captured the emotions of the characters perfectly.

This is the sequel to Shanghai Girls. It picks up with Pearl's daughter Joy, who grew up in Los Angeles, but fled to communist China to help them with the "Great Leap Forward" under Mao Zedong. She had idealist visions of communism, and was a quite disillusioned by what was actually happening when she got there. The book does not sugar-coat the famine, the violence toward village workers, or the scandalous government dealings. Joy made a few life-changing decisions that she had to find a way out of, risking death.

I loved Shanghai Girls and this book was great too. It is not for the faint of heart because it tells it as it really happened, fictionalized in a way that tears at our heart strings. We get to know the characters - some we despise and some we love - and it makes for an emotional reading experience. Highly recommended, but read Shanghai Girls first!

Ready Player One

Ready Player One by Ernest Cline. Read by Wil Wheaton.
CD Book Shelves – Main Level - CLINE

It’s a dark, dystopian future. The Recession never ended, and the ongoing energy crisis has ended the era of easy travel. Most people are unemployed, living in large stacks of trailers just outside the city. Life in the real world is so grim that the vast majority of people spend all their time logged into the Oasis, an immersive on-line alternate reality. Getting on to the Oasis and its main planet are free; it sustains itself and a large portion of the overall economy by charging for on-line goods and travel to its millions of other planets. The Oasis was imagined and designed by a hard-core socially impaired geek by the name of James Halliday. When he dies without heirs, he sends out to all the millions of Oasis users an invitation to participate in a treasure hunt for three keys leading to the location of an Easter egg hidden in the game. Our hero is one Wade Watts, an orphan living in the trailer stacks who is attending his senior year of high school in the Oasis. He’s named his avatar Parzival after the Arthurian grail-seeker and is determined to find the egg himself. In addition to all the time he spends in the Oasis, he’s devoted himself to mastering the 1980s arcade, computer and role-playing games, movies and movies that were formative during Halliday’s teen years. Geek children of the 1980s, this book is for you. There are multiple clues and puzzles which you might be able to figure out before Wade if you are familiar with the right movie or game, and even if you don’t, the trip down memory lane is exciting, filled with giant robots, planets of Zork and Blade Runner, D&D brought to life, Rush, and an entire Joss Whedon galaxy. Parzival eventually owns both a DeLorian and a Firefly class space ship.

Even if the 80s weren’t your era, the plot of the book keeps on moving. Wade may be just one of millions of gunters (as the egg hunters come to be known), but we know from the beginning that he’s the first one to find the first key. His rivals include his best friend H and the zaftig and beautiful (at least on-line) if reclusive Art3mis, but the real enemy is the giant corporation IOI. They have an army of corporate warriors bent on finding the egg to give ownership of the Oasis to IOI, so that they can then start charging monthly fees and adding more advertising to the Oasis. Can our poor, self-educated hero find the egg or help his friends get there before the evil corporation takes over the current refuge of the poor? Wil Wheaton, geek extraordinaire, gives a pitch-perfect narration here. Though this features a teen narrator, it is aimed at adults. There’s a little sexual reference (no actual sex) and some violence, mostly in the game. The language is pretty foul throughout. This is one of my very favorite books this year, and I urge fellow geeks to seek it out right now.