Heart of Darkness

Today’s post is from Peter at Davis Library:

Heart of Darkness   by Joseph Conrad

This is one of Conrad’s most famous literary achievements.  Published in 1899, the novella recounts the experience of a ship captain’s trading expedition to the forlorn regions of Congo.  During the journey, the narrator encounters unfathomable savagery and moral ambiguity.   Although Conrad’s opaque writing style can be challenging to readers, it adds a surreal and haunting element to the story.

NPR’s Best Books

Today’s post is from Annie at Parr Library.

National Public Radio has weighed in on the “Best Books of 2009,” and you can tell from their numerous “Best” categories that they realize what a huge endeavor this is.   Their categories include Best Debut Fiction, Great Gardening Books, Best Books for a Book Club, Best Memoirs, Most Mesmerizing Mysteries, Nancy Pear’s Under-the-Radar Books, Best Young Adult Fiction, Best Foreign Fiction, Top Picks from Indie Booksellers, Best Five Books to Share with Your Friends, and Best Cookbooks.  Access the full list here.

December Favorites from WAYRN? Book Club

What Are You Reading Now? Book Club members met in early December, and had lots of book recommendations, in spite of the very busy time of year.

Rose recommended two memoirs: Born Round by Frank Bruni, and American on Purpose by Craig Ferguson.

Margaret reviewed the short story collection, In Cuba I Was a German Shepherd, by Ana Menendez.

Jackie read these novels: Lime Tree Can’t Bear Orange by Amanda Smyth; Burnt Shadows by Kamila Shamsie, Shanghai Girls by Lisa See, Digging to America by Anne Tyler, and Sag Harbor by Colson Whitehead.

Joanna recently read two works of nonfiction: Maya Angelou’s Letter to My Daughter and Michio Kaku’s Physics of the Impossible.

Harold recommended Umberto Eco’s The Name of the Rose.

Arlene discussed several recent National Book Award winners: The First Tycoon: the Epic Life of Cornelius Vanderbilt, by T.J. Stiles,  Far North by Marcel Theroux, Lark and Termite by Jayne Anne Phillips, My Father’s Tears, stories by John Updike, and the young adult biography Claudette Colvin: Twice Toward Justice, by Philip Hoose.

Rich reviewed Greg Mortenson’s new book,  Stones into Schools, and The Big Switch, by Nicholas Carr, a history of electronic technology.

Mary recommended Stuart Woods’ Hot Mahogany, but not his Short Straw. She had also enjoyed the psychological suspense of Heather Gudenkauf’s The Weight of Silence and No Time for Goodbye, by Linwood Barclay.

Dawn read a history of Palm Beach,  Florida, called Madness Under the Royal Palms, by Lawrence Leamer, and the novels Silk by Alessandro Baricco, A Trace of Smoke by Rebecca Cantrell, and Eli Gottlieb’s Now You See Him.

WAYRN? will meet again on Monday, January 4, at 1 PM at Haggard Library.

Homer and Langley

Today’s post is from Lynn at Parr Library:

Homer and Langley  by E. L. Doctorow

This book is the fictionalized story of two real people who became famous in 1947 when they died.  The  men, born into a well-to-do family, lost both their parents suddenly of influenza in the epidemic of 1918.  Homer was blind and Langley had lungs which were damaged by mustard gas in the Great War.  The two brothers lived together in the house they had inherited from their parents.

What was discovered in their old Victorian home in New York City after they died was over 100 tons of stuff.  Bales of newspapers reached to the ceilings and an old car had been assembled in the dining room.  Treasures abounded in this now abandoned house.  Doctorow, who has won many awards for his writing, remembers when these two men died and how the media told what they thought was the life stories of these two hermits.  In Homer and Langley, Doctorow builds on the facts of their lives and interprets what might have been going on behind those closed doors. As one reviewer said, “It was as if they had closed the doors and pulled the world in after them.”

Homer and Langley  is a fast and fascinating read. 

 

 

The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane

Today’s post is from Ellen at Parr Library:

The Physick B00k of Deliverance Dane by Katherine Howe

Connie, a young candidate for a Ph.D. in history at Harvard, is asked to clean out her grandmother’s house so it can be sold to pay back taxes.  The house was built in the late 1690’s and has little in the way of modern conveniences.  In clearing out a cupboard, Connie finds a key hidden in a Bible and the name “Deliverance Dane” written on a scrap of paper.  She visits various local libraries and archives in her search to find out who this woman was and what happened to her “Physick book” of recipes in the hopes that doing so will provide her with a topic for her dissertation.  Later, the search intensifies in the hope that by finding it she can also find a cure for her ailing boyfriend.  Her department head wants her to find the book as well, but his reasons are self serving and dangerous. 

This is an enjoyable read and a worthy debut novel.

BookPage’s Best of 2009

This post is from Annie at Parr Library.

BookPage, the nifty book magazine you can pick up FOR FREE at any Plano library, has announced its 2009 Best Books list.  Its list is divided into parts: Teen fiction, middle-graders’ books; picture books; audiobooks; cookbooks; fiction; and nonfiction.  Click here to see all the lists.    

You can also sign up to receive BookPageXtra, which is BookPages’ enewsletter.  In addition to advance book reviews and author news, each person who receives the newsletter and responds when the monthly drawing is announced is eligible to win free books!  I’ve won it before—you get about 5 or 6 current books.  Nice!   To sign up, click here.    

And finally, BookPage also has a blog called The Book Case.  It’s an newsy blog, with information about books and authors, and all the most popular BookPage information, all in one place. 

Pretty good deal.  And did I mention that IT’S FREE at all Plano libraries?

The Story of Forgetting

Today’s post is from Annie at Parr Library.

The Story of Forgetting by Stefan Merrill Block

I read this book because it was written by someone who grew up in Plano, although he now lives in Brooklyn.  It’s about a hunchback who lives near Dallas.  Turns out to be a gem of a book, about a family ridden with a genetic form of Alzheimers.  The author himself comes from such a family. 

There are two narrators:  The hunchback Abel, as an old man, tells his story of how he fell in love with the wife of his twin Paul (not a hunchback) and consummated his passion while his brother served in Korea.  When Paul came home, Mae broke things off, but she was pregnant.  Then Mae and Abel both witnessed Paul’s gradual surrender to early-onset Alzheimers. 

The second narrator is Seth, a painfully self-conscious 15-year-old living in Austin, disaffected from his father and witnessing his mother’s surrender to early onset Alzheimers.  He starts researching both Alzheimer’s and his mother’s family and genetic history, about which he and his dad know nothing.  All he has to go on are stories of Isidora, a fantasy parallel universe, that his mom used to tell him, and the particular strain of Alzheimer’s afflicting his mother.  But this turns out to be enough for Seth to discover his roots. 

It’s a well written book, full of medical science, fantasy, and a love story.  A great book for teens as well.

Oprah’s 10 Terrific Reads

Today’s post is from Annie at Parr Library.

Oprah has eschewed a 2009 “best” list for “10 Terrific Reads of 2009.”    Same thing, however.

The Bolter by Francis Osborne
Dreaming in Hindi by Katherine Russell Rich
Little Bee by Chris Cleave
Blame by Michelle Huneven
Losing Mum and Pup by Christopher Buckley
Zeitoun by Dave Eggers
Say You’re One of Them by Uwem Akpan
Some Things That Meant the World to Me by Joshua Mohr
The Invisible Mountain by Carolina De Robertis
Strength in What Remains: A Journey of Remembrance and Forgiveness by Tracy Kidder

For a synopsis of the books plus links to O’s reviews of the books and readers guides, click here.

Books to Movies

Today’s post is from Annie at Parr Library.

Good Movie Season has begun!  Here are just a few of the upcoming movies that are based on books:

Playing now:
The Road based on The Road by Cormac McCarthy.  I couldn’t imagine how a movie could do this book  justice, but I’ve seen it and it’s a faithful adaptation and quite moving. 

Up in the Air, starring George Clooney, based on Up in the Air by Walter Kirn.  A movie for all those Advantage Executive Platinum flyers.  It’s very funny and a little sad.

Opening December 11:
The Lovely Bones, directed by Peter Jackson of Lord of the Rings fame, based on The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold.  As a book, a crossover hit with both teens and adults.  It will be interesting to see as a movie.

Invictus, directed by Clint Eastwood and starring Matt Damon and Morgan Freeman, based on Playing the Enemy: Nelson Mandela and the Game That Made a Nation by John Carlin.  Stirring and inspiring.

Opening December 25:
Sherlock Holmes, starring Robert Downey, Jr. and Jude Law, based on The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle.  This seems like a perfect movie to go to after Christmas dinner.

Best Books List from the New York Times

Today’s post is from Annie at Parr Library:

Another Best Books list, this one from the New York Times.  Click here  to see their  10 Best list.  On the right side of that webpage is a link to their 100 Notable Books of 2009.  Lists for past years are also on this website.