Lion of Ireland

Today’s post is from Peter at Davis Library:

Lion of Ireland  by Morgan Llywelyn

This is a great historical novel about Brain Boru, Ireland’s most renowned king.  Set in the 10^th century, Brian manages to unite the provincial clans of Ireland and fend off the invading Danes and Norsemen.  He also reforms laws, endows monasteries, and builds a navy to protect Ireland’s shores. Through his perilous battles and diplomatic achievements, Brian Boru can justly be viewed as the “Irish Charlemagne”. With strong characters and vivid imagery, Llywelyn has created a sweeping epic that continues in the sequel, Pride of Lions.

Heat Wave

Today’s post is from Annie at Parr Library:

Heat Wave  by Richard Castle

This book has been on the New York Times Bestseller list for two weeks now.  It has 4+ stars on Amazon and is ranked #18.  If you believe in the “wisdom of the crowd”, i.e. the Amazon people reviews, the book is pretty good.  There’s only one hitch—its author, Richard Castle, is a fictional character on a new television series called Castle that airs on ABC on Monday nights. 

I love the series.  Richard Castle is a mystery author who, for various reasons and because of his connections, teams up with a very attractive female detective and solves crimes in a sort of reverse Bones (another television series) situation.  The season premier last year showed Castle in a poker game with James Patterson and Steve Cannell.  This year, Michael Connelly was added to the poker mix in the series opener.  The show is on the fun, witty repartee side of drama, also like Bones.  In the series Castle writes a novel based on his female detective partner and their escapades together.  The book?  Why, Heat Wave, of course.  When the book debuts in the series, it goes straight to the New York Times bestseller list.  

I have googled assiduously trying to find out who really wrote this book.  All I have found are interviews by Nathon Filion, the actor who plays Castle in the series, continuing to play Castle the author in the interviews.  Jameson Rook is the character in Heat Wave who is the alter-ego of Richard Castle in the series, so there are rumors that perhaps James Patterson wrote the book.  There will likely be sequels in the book department–the producers of the series seem intent on preserving this “life imitating art” situation, and in the series Richard Castle is signing on to do at least three more books!

Little Bird of Heaven

Today’s post is from Lynn and Parr Library:

Little Bird of Heaven by Joyce Carol Oates

This book is full of real people living authentic and tragic lives.  The place is Sparta, New York, a dark and dying town.  The time is contemporary, though being a classic story, it could be anytime and anywhere.  The fact is, Zoe Kruller was murdered.  The question is, “Who did it?”  

 The police think either her lover or her ex-husband did it, but neither suspect is ever charged.  But what matters is not the facts or the lack of evidence; what matters is who people think murdered Zoe. 

The suspect’s families, especially their children, pay a huge price for the poor choices of their fathers.  The murder marks a turning point beyond which nothing is ever the same.  Oates is one of the best American writers of our day and Little Bird of Heaven reflects her genius in creating unforgettable characters living real lives. 

 

 

Book Price Wars

Today’s p0st is from Annie at Parr Library:

This month is the first salvo in the book price wars.  Wal-Mart, Amazon, and Target have all announced a new low price ($9 or lower) for ten new-release hardcovers that will hit the shelves, real and virtual, this month: 

Heat Wave by Richard Castle
Pirate Latitudes by Michael Crichton
Ford County: Stories by John Grisham
Ice by Linda Howard
Under the Dome by Stephen King
The Lacuna by Barbara Kingsolver
Breathless by Dean Koontz
Going Rogue by Sarah Palin
I, Alex Cross by James Patterson
Kindred in Death by J. D. Robb 

There is much consternation at bookstores like Borders, Legacy Books and Barnes and Noble, as these prices are less than it costs to publish the books, and while books are not Wal-Mart’s bread and butter, they are Legacy’s.  However, many readers are rubbing their hands with Christmas glee and stocking up on books as presents.  Of course, the inveterate library users among us will just put all these books on hold (if we haven’t already) and read them for free.  FREE, I repeat!  The library beats all the big retailers!

A Night in the Lonesome October

Today’s post is from Erik at Schimelpfenig Library:

A Night in the Lonesome October by Roger Zelazny

Since Halloween is nigh upon us I thought I would write about my personal favorite Halloween story.  A Night in the Lonesome October may not be everyone’s cup of tea, which kind of describes most of author Roger Zelazny’s work, but I really like this particular effort. 

Briefly, the story is told from the point of view of Snuff, canine familiar to Jack.  Snuff, Jack and several other recognizable literary and historical figures all work to either open or keep closed a gate that would allow the “Great Old Ones” access to our world.  Even Sherlock Holmes comes by to lend a hand which is always a high point for me in any book.

The story is great and the characters are fun and well-developed, it’s a little creepy but not gory in the extreme, it’s wonderfully illustrated by Gahan Wilson; it’s a perfect Halloween story!  So you might be asking yourself why this wouldn’t be my cup of tea it seems to have it all!  Well, it’s Zelazny; and Zelazny wouldn’t be Zelazny if he didn’t get a little off track at some point.  Still, this is easily one of his more accessible novels and there are those who firmly believe Zelazny totally hung the science-fiction/fantasy moon so he is definitely worth a shot. A Night in the Lonesome October isn’t perfect but it is a great read, sets a wonderful holiday mood and serves as a good “gateway” book into one of the true masters of Science-fiction/ fantasy.

Daemon

Today’s post is from Brad, a patron at Harrington Library:

Daemon by Daniel Suarez

This is a cyber-thriller where technology is used to wreak havoc on the world by a computer genius who has just died of brain cancer. The book grabs you early and keeps you turning pages as fast as you can to find out what is going to happen next. It has many twists and turns and not your normal ending. Suarez is good about explaining the technology in the story for those that are not technical – making it easy to follow. Daemon is a thrilling and thought-provoking read that leaves you wanting more.

The Shadow of the Wind

Today’s post is from Rose, a member of the What Are You Reading Now? Book Club:

The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon

Published in 2004, this engrossing novel is 486 pages of action, excitement, and interesting characters, culled from the broken world of 1945 Barcelona. The city is still feeling the effects of the long and devastating civil war that finally rid it of Francisco Franco, the country’s dictator for so many years.

Young Daniel, ten years old at the time, is taken by his father, a bookseller, to an old labyrinth of a building, the Cemetery of Forgotten Books, to choose a book from the thousands housed in a sprawling maze of library shelving. The book he chooses not only becomes a part of his life, but as events start to unravel, takes it over in ways the young Daniel could not have foreseen.

That book, also called The Shadow of the Wind, was written by one Julian Carax, an obscure Spanish writer whose path Daniel, some  five years later, will follow. Carax, in exile in Paris due to events you’ll learn as the story unfolds, has a publisher but sells very few books. Why he continues to be published is part of the mystery.

Looking for answers, Daniel will search out Carax’ school friends and family: Penelope, the love of his life, the shadowy and menacing chief of police who wants Carax dead, and he’ll pursue the mystery man with the hideous, burned-out face who tracks down every last Carax book and burns it to ashes in the midnight hours as Barcelona sleeps.

There are dozens of characters, all of whom play pivotal roles in unwinding the threads that make up this story. It’s a mystery, a love story, and a history of Spain, a country about to enter a new phase as it comes out of the dictatorship that paralyzed the country and kept its people in chains.

A Happy Marriage

Today’s post is from Rose, a member of the What Are You Reading Now? Book Club:

 

A Happy Marriage by Rafael Yglesias

In real life, Rafael Yglesias is a writer who quit school at sixteen, when he published his first novel; had a five-year relationship with a woman that didn’t work out; and a few years after that, met and married Margaret, the love of his life. Together, they raised two sons and stayed together until her death 28 years later. To date, he has written nine novels and several screenplays.

Our novel’s protagonist, Enrique, quit school at sixteen when he published his first novel; had a five-year relationship with a woman that didn’t work out; met and married Margaret five years later, raised two sons with her, and was with her until her death from cancer 28 years later.

But this is not a memoir. Nor is it an autobiography. Yglesias calls it a novel,and we must respect that he changed his life story that it is exactly that: a story. And a powerful, touching and compelling story it is. Yglesias is a beautiful writer who can move you to tears in a paragraph or two. He can describe Margaret’s exquisite blue eyes so often, in such vivid detail, and in so many ways, that he leaves you breathless.

But his story has its up and down along the way. Enrique feels he’s not good enough for this pedigreed blue-eyed goddess whom he worships. And their marriage goes through the normal wear-and-tear of years of togetherness.

Yglesias moves back and forth in time, from their first meeting until his wife’s death, in no particular order, describing the young Enrique’s raging hormones and inability to consider himself worthy of Margaret, and ending with his devoted, exhausting, and never-ending care of her as he grants her last wish to die with dignity at home.

Margaret’s parents, Enrique and Margaret’s sons, Enrique’s father, half-sister and brother, play supporting roles as the story unfolds, lending yet another layer of richness to Yglesias’ storytelling. This touching story of Margaret and Enrique makes up what a happy marriage is all about.

Oryx and Crake

Today’s post is from Annie at Parr Library:

Oryx and Crake  by Margaret Atwood

I love post-apocalyptic novels, and  Oryx and Crake is one of the best.  It begins in much the same way as The Road by Cormac McCarthy, with an unspecified, global disaster decimating the human population.  It differs from The Road in that the reader will eventually discover what that disaster was.

Snowman (as in Abominable), apparently the last genetically unmodified human alive, is the caretaker of a group of genetically modified humans called Crakers (after their creator, Snowman’s best friend Crake).  The Crakers have been altered to accomodate a herbivore diet.  Each one has a different skin tone, immune to the increasingly strong ultraviolet light from the sun and encompassing whites, tans, beiges, browns, blacks, roses, and yellows.  They have mating cycles during which their genitals turn bright blue.  They mark their territory, live outside, are oblivious to the heat and insects.  Snowman meanwhile barely survives by scavenging off the world from before the disaster.  He’s tormented by bug bites, must sleep in trees to avoid the genetically altered predators that roam the country (pigeons—part pig, part baboon—are the most dangerous) and fears injuries that would compromise his immune system and leave him prey to genetically altered germs.  The Crakers treat Snowman with deference since he knew their creator Crake and their teacher Oryx.  Snowman weaves a mythology for the Crakers on the fly, usually to suit his needs.

Little by little, through flashbacks and rueful ruminations, Snowman’s past is revealed and along with it the outline of the brave new world before and the disaster that precipitated its demise.  It’s a fascinating story.

If you like dystopian novels, try The Road by Cormac McCarthy, The Gone Away World by Nick Harkaway, or Margaret Atwood’s 1985 classic (very different from Oryx and Crake) The Handmaid’s Tale.

Discworld – The City Watch Novels

Today’s post is from Erik at Schimelpfenig Library:

  

  

Discworld: The City Watch novels by Terry Pratchett

Terry Pratchett’s Discworld novels may seem entirely overwhelming at first, after all there are over 35 of them and they seem to just keep coming.  However, when you know how they work then the whole idea gets much easier to swallow.  Sure, there are a bunch of them BUT they are actually conveniently grouped into a series of books each pertaining to a different character set in Discworld, for example the City Watch novels I’ll be talking about today.  Clear as mud?  Well, stick with me cause there’s a big payoff at the end.

The City Watch novels consist of 6 books: Guards, Guards!, Men at Arms, Feet of Clay, The Fifth Elephant, Night Watch and Thud!.  They all follow the exploits of the much-put-upon City Watch of Ankh-Morpork, Discworld’s largest city, led by Sam Vimes, Sgt. Fred Colon, “Nobby” Nobbs and Carrot Ironfoundersson (who might just be the rightful heir to the whole darn city).  As the story goes, the cast of characters grows but it mostly stays centered around this group.  The stories are basic police procedural mysteries (albeit with a quirky set of procedures) set in a town where technology meets fantasy meets cornball humor meets highbrow pathos.  The characters are fantastic, some of the best written in fantasy literature and they form the main hook for the stories.  It’s not that the writing isn’t good, it’s wonderful, it’s just that the characters are that much better.

There are other discworld series that focus on different character sets such as The Witch novels, Rincewind, Death, Moist Von Lipwig and even a series for the teens about a young witch named Tiffany Aching.  They range from about 3-6 books in length and most are still growing.  There is some overlapping of characters (Death makes and appearance in every book) but there is nothing that takes away from the characters primary arc.  The Watch novels are my personal favorites but all of them are absolutely wonderful and you will develop your favorites over time as you get attached to certain characters. 

My advice, read the first book or two in each series, you can literally track them down anywhere, and see what you like.  If you’re anything like me, you’ll like them all and you’ll find that you can’t wait for the next one no matter who Terry Pratchett decides it’s about.  And I will try over the course of the next several weeks to cover some of the other character sets, just to whet your appetite.  Look at it this way, at 37+ novels and growing, these may be able to keep you busy reading for quite a while!