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?

Return to Sullivan’s Island

Today’s post is from Marta at Harrington Library:

Return to Sullivan’s Island by Dorothea Benton Frank

With this delightful novel, I found myself drawn to the story again and again to find out what new drama was unfolding. Beth Hayes has returned to Sullivan’s Island in South Carolina to house-sit while her mother Susan heads to Paris, France. There are numerous sub-plots including the house Island Gamble that is definitely inhabited by spirits. Beth is vulnerable to an older character named Max Mitchell. The crux of this novel is the importance of family as well as the importance of resolving long standing conflicts. After reading this book, I want to visit Sullivan’s Island!

The Stupidest Angel

Today’s post is from Erik at Schimelpfenig Library:

The Stupidest Angel  by Christopher Moore

The Stupidest Angel: A Heartwarming Tale of Christmas Terror  was my entre into the world of Christopher Moore and  am glad I picked it up cause I’ve been reading him ever since.  I love Moore’s take on the various subject’s he writes about and I love each little world he creates.  He can be irreverent at times and there is usually a point in each of his books where I wonder if he hasn’t maybe stayed up a bit too late writing but thats fine; I’m usually up too late reading anyway.

Angel, starts out in sleepy Pine Cove, California where a couple of Moore’s books have been set (start with The Lust Lizard of Melancholy Cove, it introduces the town and most of the players) and concerns the Christmas tradition that every year an angel is responsible for granting one Christmas wish.  This year the duty falls to Raziel who is not the brightest bulb on the tree if you get my meaning.  Raziel is on hand when little Josh Barker witnesses the unfortunate and accidental murder of Dale Pearson, a sleezy real estate guy who happens to be dressed as Santa.  Josh, thinking Santa has just been shoveled to death, wishes for Santa and Christmas to be saved.  Bingo, wish granted, hilarity ensues.

The book is great, the characters are fun and real and you root for the good guys and boo/hiss the villains.  All in all it is a quick and hilarious holiday read.  It can get a little odd at times but that is to be expected when you mix religion and zombies; that’s not a moral viewpoint folks, just a fact of life.  If you haven’t already discovered Moore then consider this my little gift for you this holiday season AND if you feel like reciprocating I’m partial to fine blended scotch…happy holidays!

A Brotherhood of Valor: The Common Soldiers of the Stonewall Brigade, C.S.A. and the Iron Brigade, U.S.A.

Today’s post is from Susan at Schimelpfenig Library:

A Brotherhood of Valor: The Common Soldiers of the Stonewall Brigade, C.S.A. and the Iron Brigade, U.S.A. by Jeffry D. Wert

If you are a dyed-in-the-wool Civil War aficionado, you might enjoy reading or listening to A Brotherhood of Valor:  The Common Soldiers of the Stonewall Brigade, C.S.A. and the Iron Brigade, U.S.A. by Jeffry D. Wert.  The author goes into great detail on the maneuvers, battles and individuals involved in the Stonewall Brigade, named for the famous Confederate General Thomas J. Jackson after the battle of First Manassas, and the Iron Brigade of the Northern Army.  The two armies are parallel in size and even faced each other in battle, but the makeup of the individual men is the same.  It’s interesting and sometimes gory,  as war often is, and the reader (listener) gets a feel for what the two brigades and their leaders are experiencing.  It’s the same for most who go to war; the important thing is to be true to your country and your fellow soldiers.

There are no sound effects on the audio book so that part of the horror is left up to the imagination.

Crocodile on the Sandbank

Today’s post is from Cynthia at Harrington Library:

Crocodile on the Sandbank by Elizabeth Peters

Crocodile on the Sandbank is the first book in a series of addictive mystery novels. It is 1884 and Amelia Peabody has decided to see Egypt after inheriting a substantial fortune from her father. Amelia is a Victorian gentlewoman with an unflagging self-confidence, a strong will, a dash of feminism, and a journal to record events. Amelia and her companion Evelyn Barton Forbes sail down the Nile to see the pyramids. They meet Radcliffe and Walter Emerson two Egyptologist brothers who are excavating. A mummy makes nocturnal appearances that throw the excavation into turmoil and someone tries to kidnap Evelyn. Amelia in her inimitable way must find the culprit behind the mayhem. Interesting characters, the colorful background of Egypt during the first modern excavations of the ancient sites, big doses of humor, and a bit of social commentary makes the Amelia Peabody series a winner. Amelia will make you laugh out loud.

If you like audio books, Barbara Rosenblat’s superb narration of the series brings the characters to life.

This Republic of Suffering

Today’s post is from Cynthia at Harrington Library:

This Republic of Suffering: Death and the American Civil War by Drew Gilpin Faust

The generation of the American Civil War had to deal with death on a scale unknown before or since. An estimated 620,000 soldiers died on both sides of the conflict. An equivalent proportion today would be 6 million dead. Faust explains how the living responded to the devastating carnage. How does one make sense of individual death in the face of mass death? Gilpin explores the change in attitude regarding the government’s responsibility to the massive army of citizen soldiers. For the first time the federal government awarded widow and orphan pensions to the families of Union casualties. The rise in importance of the undertaking profession is discussed. The development of necessary bureaucratic methods of counting the dead is a result of the Civil War and the search by so many bereaved families for what happened to their loved ones. The evolution of the military cemetery system also was a result of the carnage. The fact that only Union dead were reinterred and honored in these military cemeteries was a source of bitterness in the South for decades to come. Gilpin gives us a window on a previously unexplored aspect of the Civil War. This is a fascinating and poignant book of social history.

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!

The Crack in the Lens

Today’s post is from Erik at Schimelpfenig Library:

The Crack in the Lens by Steve Hockensmith

I’ve mentioned before that I love Sherlock Holmes stories and Jack the Ripper stories.  I’m not sure if I’ve mentioned I love westerns as well but I do.  This one has all of that…sort of.  The Holmes on the Range mysteries of which The Crack in the Lens is the fourth, follow the adventures of Otto “Big Red” Amlingmeyer and his brother Gustav, aka “Old Red.”  We learn, just prior to the first book’s action,  that while spending time out on the dusty trail, the ever-affable Big Red has introduced his older, laconic brother to the real-life adventures of Sherlock Holmes; and in so doing, opened Old Red’s eyes to his true calling, namely solving crimes using the “deducifyin’ ways” of the Great Detective.  This sets the stage for what have been, up to now, four extremely enjoyable mysteries.

The fourth book sees our heroes with their arrow finally pointed upward.  They have some cash, some success and for Big Red, even a fancy new outfit; so what better time to go back to San Marcos, Texas and solve the crime that may have started it all in the mind of Old Red, the murder of his “soiled dove” fiance, Gertie.  How do Sherlock Holmes and Jack the Ripper fit into all this…well, you just need to read and find out.

This series has lots of things to enjoy; the plots are fast-paced and the characters and characterization are great.  One convention that I really enjoy is that Holmes, though only referred to in the context of his books to this point, actually does exist in this world, with one of the characters in the fourth book having met him, much to the chagrin of Old Red.  The stories themselves do follow an order beginning with Holmes on the Range; however, The Crack in the Lens can be read as is since the action in this one is relatively self-contained.  But where is the fun in that, go get the first one and enjoy the story from the beginning.  You’ll be happy you did.

Blue Heaven

Today’s post is by Sandy at Davis Library:

Blue Heaven  by C. J. Box

Browsing the CD books at Davis Library, I stumbled on  this author.  Blue Heaven was my first book by him and I was hooked.  The story is about two children in Northern Idaho that see a murder committed at a camp ground as they pass by on their way to an afternoon of fishing.  They are spotted by the men involved and recognized.   To add zest to the plot, these men are retired police officers from Los Angeles that have settled in the area.  The children’s ability to stay alive is helped by an aging rancher.  The retired officers offer their service to the newly elected sheriff to assist in finding the missing children.  I am now on my second C.J. Box novel Three Weeks To Say Goodbye.   These are actually two of his latest books, I will have fun reading or listening to many past titles by him.

In Defense of Food

Today’s post is from Lynn at Parr Library:

In Defense of Food:  An Eater’s Manifesto by Michael Pollan

This book is better listened to than it would be to read.  It is narrated by Scott Brick who does an excellent job of imparting the enthusiasm with which the book is written.  The audio book is just over six hours long.  We all know that the Western diet has turned many of us into a populaton who lives with obesity and diabetes to name just a couple of the diseases associated with our way of eating.  But how did this way of eating come about?

That’s what Pollan explains very clearly step-by-step.  Decisions made at the governmental level have turned us from people who ate healthy, whole foods, into a population who eats too many “food products” our great grandparents would not even recognize as food.

Pollan is convincing in his advice that we should go back to the whole foods our ancestors ate.  He says, too, that we should eat mostly plants and little meat.  The problem is breaking our addictions to these “food products” which seemingly have taken over our way of eating.  But people with Western diet diseases who have gone back to old ways of eating have reversed their health problems by doing so.