Entries categorized as ‘Book Club Favorites’
Today’s post is from Erik at Schimelpfenig Library:
Three Bags Full: A Sheep Detective Story by Leonie Swann
I read this book because it was up for consideration for one or more of the library book clubs, and plus it sounded like it might be fun; sheep solving a mystery, that sounds right up my alley. For the most part it was pretty enjoyable, just your basic cozy Scottish Highland mystery (with all the murder that goes on up there it’s a wonder they have any people left). The gimmick of the sheep was cool but ultimately, other than the odd bleating and occasional sheep-panic, there wasn’t a whole lot to distinguish the sheep from Hamish Macbeth or any number of other Scot detectives.
The story revolves around the flock of George Glenn who made a habit of reading to his sheep and is found dead, pinned to the ground by a spade, straight off. The sheep, emboldened by their knowledge of literature, decide they owe it to their shepherd to solve his murder. Led by Miss Maple, the smartest sheep in the county, they set out to do just that.
It’s hard, I imagine, to do a book based on sheep and have the characters all be singular in some way; I mean a certain sameness would seem to be inherent, they are sheep for Pete’s sake. The author tries, and for the most part succeeds, with the major sheep to give them an individual personality but the ancillary sheep tend to blend together and the sheep who “likes unusual words” and the “fastest sheep in the flock” all sort of blend into “the sheep we need for this plot device.” The humans are kind of hard to distinguish also and with one or two exceptions could all just be the same person. Finally, the mystery itself is something of a let-down as well but only because we aren’t really allowed enough insight as readers to put it together ourselves.
I can’t say that I disliked the book, because I love any story that uses the verb “bleat,” but I was pretty disappointed. Maybe I had my expectations too high. If you like cozy mysteries, then this one will be fine. You’ll read it and probably enjoy it, it just won’t stay with you like a really transcendant book should; but I guess even in the book world not everyone gets to be an astronaut.
Categories: Adult Fiction · Book Club Favorites
Tagged: Cozy Mystery, Scottish Highlands, Sheep
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.
Categories: Adult Fiction · Book Club Favorites
Tagged: Barcelona, books, Carlos Ruiz Zafon, Spain
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.
Categories: Adult Fiction · Book Club Favorites
Tagged: marriage, Rafael Yglesias
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!
Categories: Adult Fiction · Audio Books · Award Winners · Book Club Favorites · Graphic Literature · Staff Favorites · Uncategorized
Today’s post is from Rose, a member of the What Are You Reading Now? Book Club:
Every Man Dies Alone by Hans Fallada
Fallada is a German writer, born in 1893, living in Germany for all of his short life. From adolescence, he had various drug and alcohol dependencies, fought a duel, and was considered unstable. In spite of these handicaps, he managed to write many books (this last one was written in only twenty-four days), some of which were made into early films. His life deserves a rich biography, and I hope someone has written one.
This book’s plot is taken from a true story that happened in Berlin as the Nazis were rising to power and all of Germany was under the brutal heel of the Gestapo’s secret service.
A quiet married couple lose their only son to the war, and in grief and retribution, they embark on a postcard campaign in various parts of the city which criticizes Hitler, the Nazi party, and the war effort. They have the police and the Gestapo stymied for three years.
There are so many interesting characters, so many avenues the investigation can take, and Fallada has such a wonderful writing style, that I found myself totally absorbed–I couldn’t put this book down.
Categories: Adult Fiction · Book Club Favorites
Tagged: Hans Fallada, Nazism
Today’s post is from Rose, a member of the What Are You Reading Now? Book Club:
The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery
We are in an elegant hotel particulier in the center of Paris. Renee Michel, the building’s concierge, is short, ugly and plump. She has bunions on her feet. She is cantankerous and addicted to soaps.
Renee wants to be the very model of an uneducated boor, everything that her tenants would expect from the super of a building–but that’s not exactly who she is. She’s an autodidact who loves art and film (especially Japanese film), music and philosophy. And she intends to keep this a secret–until she meets the two people who change her life.
Paloma is the twelve-and-1/2 year old daughter of one of the tenants, from a very rich family, the father of whom is high up in the French government. She’s so precocious, and so dissatisfied with the state of the world, that she intends to end her life when she turns thirteen by setting the building on fire. She also hides her intelligence under a mask of mediocrity–until she meets the two people who will change her life.
It’s a fascinating read, complete with descriptions of a Parisienne neighborhood that make you want to hop the next plane. Rue de Bac, with all of its charming shops, becomes a main street in the action as the novel progresses.
Paloma’s description of Renee becomes the title of the book: “Madame Michel has the elegance of the hedgehog: on the outside, she’s covered in quills, a real fortress, but my gut feeling is that on the inside, she has the same simple refinement as the hedgehog: a deceptively indolent little creature, fiercely solitary, and terribly elegant.”
Categories: Adult Fiction · Book Club Favorites
Tagged: Muriel Barbery, Paris
Today’s post is from Rich, a member of the What Are You Reading Now? Book Club:
The Eye of the Leopard by Henning Mankell
The Eye of the Leopard is one of Mankell’s earliest novels, written before he began his popular and successful detective series about an interesting detective named Kurt Wallander. I enjoy the detective stories, but I did not enjoy this book, or several other of his non-detective novels. I think Mankell is best with the detective genre. However, I have seen favorable reviews of Leopard from various sources.
This book involves a Swedish man, Hans Olafson, who spends nineteen years in Africa, from age eighteen to age thirty-seven. The book alternates chapters of his dealings among people he meets in Zambia, Africa, with flashbacks of growing up in Sweden. (Mankell has lived in Zambia, where this book takes place, and in Mozambique, where he manages a theater.) As a young child, Hans indirectly led a friend to try a dangerous stunt that left the friend paralyzed. In his later teen years, Hans has an affair with a disfigured girl who becomes pregnant, and then commits suicide. She always wanted to visit Africa, and Hans decides to fulfill her dream by going there himself after she dies.
Hans didn’t intend to stay in Africa long, but he becomes involved with an elderly lady who owns a large egg farm. He begins to work for her, and eventually takes charge of the farm. Hans gradually learns about many bizarre customs and traditions among the natives. There are strains between blacks and whites, rich and poor, disease and government corruption. Hans becomes infected with malaria, has strange dreams about people being after him, and dangerous activities leave two of his neighbors dead. Confronting a perceived threat, he resorts to murder himself. Finally. he decides he cannot risk staying any longer in Africa, and returns to Sweden.
Mankell reminds me of Arthur Conan Doyle, who created the popular detective Sherlock Holmes. He got so tired of Holmes stories that he decided to let Holmes be killed. Public pressure eventually convinced Doyle to bring Holmes back to life. Mankell admitted recently that he is working on another Wallender mystery.
Categories: Adult Fiction · Book Club Favorites
Tagged: Africa, Henning Mankell, Zambia
Today’s post is from Cathe at Davis Library:
The Piano Teacher by Janice Y. K. Lee
Set in Hong Kong, this first novel tells two stories simultaneously.
The first, which begins in spring 1952, is Claire’s. Newly arrived in Hong Kong with her British husband, she is engaged by the wealthy Chens to teach piano to their daughter Locket. Within weeks, she is drawn into the vibrant social life of the island’s European expats, and eventually begins an affair with the enigmatic Will Truesdale.
The second storyline depicts the brief and brutal Japanese invasion of Hong Kong in December 1941. Trudy Liang is a beautiful and popular figure in pre-war Colony society, but she must fight to survive in the treacherous new world of occupied Hong Kong. Eventually, of course, the novel reveals how Trudy is linked, a decade later, to Will, the Chens, and Claire.
The Piano Teacher offers a vividly realized picture of Hong Kong during World War II and afterward. It is a fascinating place and time, and this is a terrific novel.
Categories: Adult Fiction · Book Club Favorites · Staff Favorites
Tagged: Hong Kong, Janice Y. K. Lee, World War II
