Word went out in the last couple of days that Oprah was going to announce her new book group pick on September 17th. And the crowds went wild. At least they did online.
The guessing yesterday was leaning towards the idea that Oprah might channel Alanis Morissette’s Isn’t it Ironic and choose Jonathan Franzen’s Freedom. Yes that Franzen. The guy who said ‘no thanks’ the first time Oprah wanted to feature his book. The guy who is getting so much press that other authors are feeling the lack for themselves. The guy who has a hashtag on twitter devoted to the whole shebang - #franzenfreude. Though the early betting was on his book, Publishers Lunch doesn’t think so:
“There was some speculation online that the selection could be Jonathan Franzen’s Freedom (which also lists for $28), but it would appear not. We say this because Indigo lists the Canadian edition as also coming from Macmillan (with the same ISBNs as are listed on US bookselling sites) at a Canadian price of $29.50. But Jonathan Franzen has long been published by Harper Canada, which sells Freedom for $34.99 CA.
“We were tempted to infer that it’s a Farrar, Straus or Henry Holt book, since they click to read more…
September 2nd, 2010
Jane J. - Central Library
I seem to be thinking of books every time I watch TV lately - probably not a bad thing. True Blood made me yearn for more urban fantasy and when I watch The Closer I’m reminded of a couple of mystery series with strong female leads. One of which could be a template for the character of Deputy Brenda Lee Johnson - 
so much so that I was convinced at least one of the writers must have read the series by J. D. Robb before coming up with the Brenda character. Robb introduced her female cop, NYPD Lieutenant Eve Dallas, in her 1995. At the time I was working at a mystery bookstore and can remember seeing the book announced in the Berkley catalog.** What caught my eye was the setting of New York in 2058, the idea of a tough but battle-scarred protagonist, and that J. D. Robb was a pseudonym for Nora Roberts. Though I’m not a fanatic follower of Nora Roberts I usually like her books and in some cases love them (especially her longer, standalone suspense titles). My curiosity was piqued. And more then satisfied when I read the book and the rest of the series since then.
Eve Dallas is a loner who puts the law above all else. She is prickly and has stepped on toes within the police ranks. She lives alone, loves junk food and in the beginning of the series meets the multi-billionaire click to read more…
September 1st, 2010
Jane J. - Central Library
Two young men with the same name were featured in the Baltimore Sun in December 2000. One was named a Rhodes Scholar and the other was wanted for allegedly killing a police officer in an armed robbery. These two young men started out on very similar paths - how did their lives turn out so differently?
The full story of what happened is told by Wes Moore, the Rhodes Scholar, veteran, White House Fellow and successful businessman in The Other Wes Moore: One Name, Two Fates. This book should be required reading for all middle school students. That’s around the age things really started to fall apart for the other Wes Moore.
Both boys grew up with loving mothers who wanted their sons to succeed and tried their very best to protect them from a tough environment. Both boys had other family members looking out for them. Both boys were bright but had issues with school. Both boys rebelled at about the same age. One got sent to military school and the other started dealing drugs. By the time they were teenagers, their futures were set. One was on his way to becoming an officer in the military and the other had been arrested multiple times and was headed toward life in prison.
Man, is this a sobering book. I can’t say that I enjoyed it, but I’m so glad that I read it. Even though the subject matter is heavy, it’s very readable. Author Wes Moore is even-handed with details and was able to obtain in-depth background information from the other Wes Moore and his family, as well as family photos. I imagine this title will also be popular with book groups. There’s much to discuss.
August 30th, 2010
Molly - Central
As long as there have been stories in book form there have been arguments, disagreements, gossip and controversies that erupt. I’ll admit it, I’m happy about that fact. What is literary? What is commercial? The debates rage on. Often the war of words erupt over reviews written - note Alain de Botton’s comment (fourth one down) about a review written about his book (which we do own, so not completely dead in the U.S.) - or reviews not written as in the newest instance where two authors are taking the New York Times to task for lavishing so much space on Jonathan Franzen’s new book and none to their own. That’s the short version.
The longer version is an ongoing debate about what gets included in the limited space of the review section of the Gray Lady. Authors Jodi Picoult and Jennifer Weiner tell it as they see it in this Huffington Post interview. Weiner starts off with:
“I think it’s a very old and deep-seated double standard that holds that when a man writes about family and feelings, it’s literature with a capital L, but when a woman considers the same topics, it’s romance, or a beach book - in short, it’s something unworthy of a serious critic’s attention.”
And even when more commercial fiction (or genre fiction) is included she argues:
“when genre fiction that men read gets reviewed but genre fiction that women read doesn’t exist on the paper’s review pages? It would be as if the paper’s film critics only reviewed tiny independent fare and refused to see so much as a single frame of a romantic comedy, or if the music critics listened to Grizzly Bear and refused to acknowledge the existence of Katy Perry or Lady Gaga. How seriously would a reader take a critic like that?”
I do agree with that. Mysteries are included in their review section (written by men and women) but romances, chick lit and woman’s fiction are not. Others don’t agree with Weiner and Picoult’s click to read more…
August 26th, 2010
Jane J. - Central Library
Some authors produce such reliably good novels that their fans will pick up the books without waiting for reviews. Usually the new books don’t disappoint. But even in the case of authors who usually get it right there is an occasional dud. Two news books: Imperfect Birds by Anne Lamott and Every Last One by Anna Quindlen, are both examples of this. These bestselling authors have written both fiction and nonfiction and are reliably good. But their latests fall short of the mark. These two were less than engrossing for different reasons.
Imperfect Birds is a sequel to the novel Rosie, published in 1983. In that book, Rosie was a child whose father has died and whose mother Elizabeth is an alcoholic. Now Rosie is almost 18, and is a scheming and troubled young woman while her mother, Elizabeth is remarried to James, a writer and commentator. Rosie is using and abusing multiple drugs: speed, alcohol, cough syrup among them. Both her mother and stepfather are seemingly ignorant and delusional in their view of Rosie’s behavior and her social interactions. When Rosie is finally sent into treatment, against her will, their major concern seems to be how much it will cost. It is difficult to decide which character is the most click to read more…
August 25th, 2010
Mary K. - Central
For our August discussion book, the South Madison Branch Library read Women of the Silk by Gail Tsukiyama. Set in China in the 1920’s and 30’s, it’s a story of girls who go off to work in the silk factories in order to support their families. The story follows Pei, born to a poor farm family in rural China, who is sent to the factory by her father at age 9. The book details the silk industry, and more intriguingly, the communities and bonds formed among the women who do the silk work. In the background of Pei’s story is the growing unrest between Japan and China, culminating in the outbreak of war.
Our group was small, but there was a great deal of discussion. The group unanimously loved the book and several voiced their hope to find out the rest of Pei’s story in Tsukiyama’s sequel, The Language of Threads. The writing was simple, gentle and quiet yet didn’t always seem to express the depth of the hardships that the women were experiencing. While most liked the writing – one member loved that it was pragmatic instead of click to read more…
August 24th, 2010
Lori - South Madison
I found Cecily Von Ziegesar’s new novel Cum Laude nearly as entertaining as her Gossip Girl Series, but I’m not sure who the target audience is. It’s marketed as a novel for adults, but is written more like a YA novel, with a plot and setting that I can’t imagine would be all that appealing to fans of the CW show or YA readers graduating from the book series looking for something new to read.
Set in 1992 at a private college in Maine, it’s more of an homage to the grunge-era. Will young adult readers who love the stylish Upper East Side New York girls with their society parties and scandals be captivated by the granola-y Dexter College campus and college freshman with their J. Crew sweaters and flannel L.L. Bean dorm sheets? I don’t know. Adults who read the GG series and are curious about this foray into adult fiction might be interested, but the writing is just so-so.
There is some recreational drug use and sexual activity, but no more than click to read more…
August 23rd, 2010
Molly - Central
I love HBO’s True Blood (I read the Sookie books as well) and this past week when they were showing scenes for the next episode, there it was. In big red letters - ONLY 3 EPISODES LEFT - what to do, what to do? Only three more weeks and I’ll be back to waiting until next June for more.
In my case I picked up a new urban fantasy novel and loved it. I’d been a little burned out on the whole vampire/were-animal/gods and goddesses/witches, paranormal thing because everyone and their brother were writing a book. Finding the ones I like as much as the Charlaine Harris books and the True Blood series is an ongoing challenge. There are many I pick up and put back down after a few chapters. Authors I have liked? Kat Richardson, Ilona Andrews, Patricia Briggs, Rob Thurman and Ann Aguirre are a few of the very good ones. Now I can add a new book/series to the list.
Cat Adams’ (the nom de plume of writing team C. T. Adams and Cathy Clamp) Blood Song introduces Celia Graves. Celia is a plain vanilla human (as she likes to describe herself) with no special abilities. She works as a bodyguard and relies on her wits, fitness and a few magically enhanced tools to do the job. When she is hired to guard the prince of a tiny eastern European country, Celia runs into click to read more…
August 20th, 2010
Jane J. - Central Library
Don’t let the beginning of the book scare you away; think of the disorienting first chapters of Eleanor Catton’s precocious debut The Rehearsal as your warm-up, a rehearsal of the techniques you’ll be using as you read this innovative, challenging but totally worth it novel. After reading the first few pages I wasn’t sure I’d keep going. The book is completely over the top: the dialogue consists mostly of long, melodramatic paragraphs bordering on monologues that drip with pretension, while the postmodern structure seems deliberately confusing. However, I kept plugging along, because the sheer novelty of the book kept me interested, and after a few more pages, I was completely hooked. The Rehearsal tells a familiar story in an utterly new way, and it’s one of the most brilliant, wickedly funny books I’ve read in ages.
The central event in the novel is the discovery of an affair between a teacher and a student. Mr. Saladin, a young teacher at a private school for girls, has been having a relationship with Victoria, a saxophone player in his jazz band. Predictably, the school is in an uproar, and click to read more…
August 19th, 2010
Kylee
Fans of Kathy Griffin know her 90-year-old mother Maggie as a sensible, mid-western voice of reason in the wacky world of Hollywood stars and lifestyles of the rich and famous. She enjoys celebrity spotting at her local West Hollywood Pavilions grocery store, loves her family, knows the value of a dollar, and appreciates a nice glass of wine.
In the ever expanding genre of celebrity memoirs, Tip It: The World According to Maggie by Maggie Griffin is a charming, light addition for fans of both Griffins and for those looking for a refreshing perspective on Hollywood. Tip It is a sweet, funny book that is a combination of memoir, advice and family anecdotes.
Margaret Corbally was one of sixteen children born to Irish immigrants who ran a local grocery in Chicago. She and her husband raised a large family of their own in Oak Park and worked hard to send the kids to Catholic school and then put them through college. Marge, or Maggie as she is known now, moved to California with her husband and daughter Kathy after retirement. Kathy worked her butt off to establish a career “in the biz” with much support and encouragement from her parents. Her parents worked hard to track down stars by click to read more…
August 18th, 2010
Molly - Central
Pinkie has problems. He has just murdered the newspaper reporter responsible for the death of Kite, the gang leader Pinkie always admired. But the murder didn’t go smoothly, and now Pinkie is faced with the prospect of tying up the loose ends in order to escape the gallows. The coolly methodical pursuit of that goal is at the heart of Graham Greene’s 1938 character study Brighton Rock.
A few things to be clear on: Brighton Rock is not for anyone looking for a commendable character, nor does it provide a sunny portrait of England in waning days of the 1930s. Nothing like the charming sociopath like Highsmith’s Ripley, Pinkie is marked by a cold detachment that goes straight to his core. In his efforts to cover his tracks, Pinkie becomes entangled with Rose, a young waitress who witnesses one of Pinkie’s associates masquerading as Hale, the murder victim. Repulsed by women and the thought of sex, Pinkie nonetheless faces click to read more…
August 17th, 2010
Katie H.
…we wait. We wait for those books by our favorite authors and in our favorite series. Suzanne Collins final book in her Hunger Games trilogy Mockingjay, which will be released on August 24th, already has 767 holds on it. Kathy Reichs’ Spider Bones due out the same week has 176 people on the waiting list while Lee Child’s Worth Dying For is at 123. The book that starts a new series by Janet Evanovich, Wicked Appetite has almost 300 people waiting and the sixth and final book! in Jean Auel’s Earth’s Children series has been announced for April 2011 (you’ll really have to wait for this one, it’s so new that it’s not even in the catalog yet). How do you keep up? How can you know what’s coming out?
The library has a few options for you. You can read and/or receive email lists that update you on forthcoming books in a wide variety of subjects - from Books for 4-year-olds to Science and Nature and a whole bunch in between. You can take a look at the Don’t Miss Lists that are updated monthly from our library catalog and follow us on Twitter and Facebook for book and other news about the library.
Some places to go when you’ve combed through the library lists:
For extensive mystery lists, take a look at the Bloodstained Bookshelf. BB is updated monthly and has lists of forthcoming titles up to April of 2011.
If you like romance the All About Romance gang has new reviews, reviews in the works and the books they’re looking forward to for the next month.
SF Site covers the science fiction and fantasy genres in depth and includes listings for New Arrivals each month.
When it comes to big book buzz about new and forthcoming lit fic, kid’s fic, and nonfiction check out EarlyWord. They keep track of all the books that are being mentioned on tv, made into movies, getting lots of positive reviews, etc. The book most recently added to my own TBR pile based on their news: I’d Know You Anywhere by Laura Lippman (55 holds, btw).
For good all-around, everything but the kitchen sink, forthcoming lists take a look at Fantastic Fiction.
And thus the waiting begins. These are some of my go-to sources for new reading options. What have I missed? Where do you go for all the book news that’s fit to print?
August 14th, 2010
Jane J. - Central Library
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