Posts filed under 'General'
The time when everyone publishes an end-of-the-year list. If the New York Times can do it, why not me? I’ve really only been keeping track of my reading since July 1, so here are many of the books I’ve read since then.
Brown, Wayne. Landscape with Heron. Insightful vignettes, newspaper columns, essays, and stories about life in Trinidad and Jamaica.
Bukoski, Anthony. North of the Port: Stories. UW-Superior’s Bukoski elegantly tells stories of displacement. Reader at the Wisconsin Book Festival.
Burton, Richard F, Sir, translator. The Arabian Nights. Simply the best. Bawdy, violent, fantastic, and clever; Disney’s Aladdin it ain’t.
Calvino, Italo. The Baron in the Trees. An Enlightenment-era baron seeks his utopia among the trees. Playful and smart, but not without its emotional moments.
Chekhov, Anton. Stories. Chekhov’s stories are as sharp and true-to-life as ever.
Eprile, Tony. Temporary Sojourner, and other South African Stories. A pointed look at apartheid-era South Africa combined with stories about coming of age in that country and in the United States. Publishers Weekly: “Vibrant.”
Fitzgerald, F Scott. The Great Gatsby. See my review here.
Foos, Laurie. Before Elvis There Was Nothing. Before the end of the novel, a woman has a horn growing out of her forehead. Booklist: “Leave it to Foos to write such a stunningly ironic, page-turning commentary on public image, beauty, and celebrity.”
Hemingway, Ernest. The Nick Adams Stories. Some of the best short stories written in the English language.
Hemon, Aleksandar. The Lazarus Project. See my review here. Reader at the Wisconsin Book Festival.
Lowenthal, Michael. Charity Girl. Tells the story of women rounded up during World War I because of their sexual behavior. Publishers Weekly: “Lowenthal ably captures the transformation of a naïve adolescent into a woman in his provocative story.”
Lychack, William. The Wasp Eater. A ten-year-old boy finds himself caught in the middle when his father is kicked out of the house for adultery. Booklist: “Beautifully understated, delicately crafted.”
Maraniss, David. Rome 1960: The Olympics that Changed the World. See my review here. Reader at the Wisconsin Book Festival.
McCarthy, Cormac. The Road. Small words and small actions are given the thought and attention they deserve as a father and son traverse a post apocalyptic wasteland.
McEwan, Ian. Atonement. You saw the movie, now read the book.
McEwan, Ian. First Love, Last Rites. A collection of some of McEwan’s rich and strange early stories.
Mignola, Mike. Hellboy. Awesomely drawn monster tales make the best bedtime reading.
Millhauser, Steven. Dangerous Laughter: Thirteen Stories. Srange tales and eerie fables for fans of Borges and the New Yorker. Check out his recent essay “The Ambition of the Short Story.”
Mori, Kaoru. Emma. Mori’s “maid mania,” as she calls it, resulted in this delightful manga series about finding love in Victorian England.
Mori, Kyoko. Stone Field, True Arrow. When a woman’s father dies, she is forced to reconsider her safe but sterile life. Publishers Weekly: “Graceful in its simplicity of language.”
Murakami, Haruki. What I Talk About When I Talk About Running. See my review here.
Nabokov, Vladimir. Lolita. Nabokov’s “love letter to the English language” and one of the most notorious books ever published.
Proulx, Annie. Brokeback Mountain. See Atonement, above. From the collection Close Range: Wyoming Stories.
Strout, Elizabeth. Olive Kitteridge. Interrelated short stories bring the titular character to life. Reader at the Wisconsin Book Festival.
Unger, Nancy. Fighting Bob La Follette: The Righteous Reformer. Well-researched one-volume look at La Follette and the Progressive Era. New to Wisconsin? Lived here all your life, but want to learn more about your home state? Check it out!
Verdelle, AJ. The Good Negress. A young woman tries to find her place in her family and in the world. Publishers Weekly: “Consistently absorbing and beautifully detailed.”
December 21st, 2008
Jon - Hawthorne
It is also not too early to start thinking about the holidays and these books make great gifts:
Happy Fiftieth Anniversary, Paddington! I first read A Bear Called Paddington by Michael Bond when I 
was in third grade based on a friend’s recommendation. I remember enjoying it, but couldn’t remember much of the plot when I recently picked it up in honor of the fiftieth anniversary of its first printing. I was surprised at how much of the phrasing I remembered exactly as I read it again and how truly comical the story is. This is laugh out loud stuff. When Paddington tumbles into his saucer of tea and is covered in sticky buns–ha! And when he gets caught in the display window at the department store–ha ha! And the idea of a bear from darkest Peru wandering about London in a Macintosh and safari helmet–timeless. It doesn’t matter how old you are or what generation you were a child in, Paddington is a classic.
The Willoughbys by Lois Lowry is a spoof on the genre of children’s literature that pays homage to orphans, nannies, millionaire tycoons, confectioners, babies left on doorsteps, wicked parents, old-fashioned children, and on and on in all hilariousness. This book pokes fun at them all and riotously refers to many classics. When the little boy is trapped in the Swiss Alps and tries to apologize in German by combining words? Sorrybrauten? Need I say more? Especially recommended for fans of Lemony Snicket.
And last but certainly not least, you won’t want to miss The Penderwicks on Gardam Street by Jeanne Birdsall. This is the second book in the series featuring the Penderwick sisters and their escapades of childhood lived in the slow-paced manner of years gone by. In the first book, The Penderwicks: A Summer Tale of Four Sisters, Two Rabbits, and a Very Interesting Boy, the girls, their widowed professor father and the family hound pack up for a summer holiday in a rented cottage on a country estate outside of Boston. The girls bake brownies, sneak through hedges, go to a dress-up birthday dinner and enjoy the kind of summer that seems impossible with a modern schedule of soccer practice, music lessons and the myriad of other activities around today. In the second book, the girls concoct the “Save-Daddy Plan” aka “operation prevent Daddy from dating - we don’t want a stepmother” with disastrous results. The girls are sweet, their relationship with their father is tender and honest, and their antics are refreshing. These books are an inspiration for those involved in the Slow Movement, or those hoping for a quiet wind down to a harried day.
October 23rd, 2008
Molly - Central
Join us for this Wisconsin Book Festival event held at your Madison Public Library!
Carol Chase Bjerke, Judith Strasser, & Richard Quinney: Writing Between Illness and Wellness
4:00 p.m. at the Central Branch
With dark humor, irony, compassion, and keen sense of self, Carol Chase Bjerke navigates through the different personas of a rectal cancer survivor, medical patient, healer, and most importantly, artist, to produce Hidden Agenda, a work that is the cure for cynicism and despair. For Judith Strasser, September 11th was the start of a life-changing exploration of the very nature of fear and courage, facing her own cancer and her memories of a brutal murder. In Facing Fear: Meditaions on Cancer and Politics, Courage and Hope she guides us along life’s precarious path. After Richard Quinney was diagnosed with chronic lymphocytic leukemia, he began keeping a journal and taking photographs of the passing seasons on his family farm in Walworth County which chronicle Quinney’s emotional journey and record how his farm provided peace and solace, a reminder of times past, and a revelation of the wonders of the present.
More information about the Wisconsin Book Festival and other Festival events held at Madison Public Library locations.
October 19th, 2008
Jane
Join us for this Wisconsin Book Festival event held at your Madison Public Library!
Porter Shreve & Casey Nagy: Fiction Stranger Than Politics 
5:00 p.m. at the Central Branch
Sometimes, people trying to change the world say by any means necessary. But how much is too much? What if the wrong people get hurt? Porter Shreve’s novel When the White House Was Ours is the captivating story of a family’s struggle to stay together against great odds in the 1970s, living through an idealistic time and ending up in an era of compromise. In the Pacific Northwest, a bomb set off to make a point cleaves a community with accusations and assumptions in Casey Nagy’s Imagined Glories. Both books examine the fragility of our social fabric, making us look inside and see things we’d rather not.
More information about the Wisconsin Book Festival and other Festival events held at Madison Public Library locations.
October 17th, 2008
Jane
Join us for these Wisconsin Book Festival events held at your Madison Public Library!
Henry Drewal and Baba Wague Diakite: Meet Mami Wata
5:00 p.m. at the Central Branch
Commonly known as a water spirit, Mami Wata is a west African mythical figure steeped in much mystery and charm. For centuries, traditional and now contemporary art has been created to celebrate Mami Wata, thus demonstrating the pervasiveness of the water deities, the centuries-long centrality of water and these spirits to the lives of people across many cultures, and the imagery’s relevance and adaptability in an ever-changing world. Drewal is the Evjue-Bascom Professor of African and African Diaspora Arts at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Contemporary artist Baba Wague Diakite is one who brings Mami Wata to life in the twenty-first century: come and meet him!
Sara Pennypacker and Jacquelyn Mitchard: On Writing for Young People
7:00 p.m. at the Central Branch
What kind of stories do children fall in love with? How can kids stay hooked on reading through middle and young adult years? Explore these questions with Sara Pennypacker, creator of the beloved “Clementine” books, and Madison’s own Jacquelyn Mitchard, whose recent young adult novels have expanded her vast readership into a new demographic. “Being a reader,” says Mitchard, “gives you a portable universe, a way that you’ll never be a prisoner.” Jump in!
More information about the Wisconsin Book Festival and other Festival events held at Madison Public Library locations.
October 16th, 2008
Jane
Join us for these Wisconsin Book Festival events held at your Madison Public Library!
Kashmira Sheth: Monsoon Afternoon
6:30 p.m. at the Alicia Ashman Branch
Author Kashmira Sheth presents an affectionate, sensitive story which provides a look into Indian life and the shared moments and memories that bind generations together. Learn to make the three different kinds of paper boats that are in her beautiful new picture book, Monsoon Afternoon.
Madison Public Library: History and Future
5:00 p.m. at the Central Branch
Terrie Goren, Director of the Madison Public Library Foundation, will present the film The History of the Madison Public Library, written and narrated by local author and historian Stuart Levitan.
More information about the Wisconsin Book Festival and other Festival events held at Madison Public Library locations.
October 15th, 2008
Jane
Early information is now out about the seventh annual Wisconsin Book Festival, held in downtown Madison from October 15-19, and once again it looks to be a very stimulating and exciting festival. And happily for us the Central location of the Madison Public Library will once again be one of the many venues for the five day festival.
There are many great programs and authors scheduled. Some of the writers who will be appearing are: David Maraniss, Marilynne Robinson, Judy Blume and Mary Gordon.
Watch the Book Festival’s (and MPL’s) website for more details. And be sure to subscribe to the festival’s newletter that will keep you updated on all events and schedules.
September 19th, 2008
Mary K. - Central
Bestselling author and Madison-area native Jacquelyn Mitchard will be appearing at the Sequoya Library on Thursday, August 14 at 7:00 p.m. to discuss and read from her newly published young adult novel The Midnight Twins.
Mitchard’s first novel, The Deep End of the Ocean, was named by USA Today as one of the ten most influential books of the past 25 years, second only to J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter series. The Deep End of the Ocean was chosen by Oprah as the first selection for her book club in 1996. Mitchard has written numerous works of fiction for adults, and has been nominated for the Orange Prize for Fiction in Britain. Recently, she has expanded her writings to books for young adults.
The Midnight Twins is the first in a trilogy of teen mysteries about identical twin sisters with psychic powers who were born on New Year’s Eve. The author will read from and discuss the novel. Refreshments will be served.
This event will benefit the new Sequoya Branch Library, and is co-sponsored by the Madison Public Library Foundation. For more information, please call 266-6385.
August 12th, 2008
Tana
I read that this book pushed one of the Harry Potter books off the number one spot on the best seller list in Great Britain and had to check it out for myself. Roast Chicken and Other Stories: A Recipe Book by Simon Hopkinson, only recently available in the U.S. even though the book was originally published in 1994, is a must-add gem for your list of cookbook reading and experimenting. A former newspaper food writer and popular chef, Hopkinson’s book follows his credo of simple preparations, good ingredients and the confidence to make what you want to make.
In a conversational way, Hopkinson covers his forty favorite ingredients. Arranged alphabetically, each ingredient has its own chapter, story and recipes. I daresay I skipped over the brains, kidneys and tripe sections, but the chocolate section, as well as the custard, onion, potato and pepper sections are fantastic. Most recipes call for liberal amounts of garlic and seasonings and the distinction between butter and olive oil is made several times. The recipe for mashed potatoes with olive oil is genius. I’m a mashed potato lover, and the idea of omitting the butter gave me chills, but the olive oil is just right. I’ll give his chocolate tart recipe a go next. The roll-out crust calls for powdered sugar, something I haven’t tried before.
Hopkinson also includes little tributes to the chefs and restaurateurs that he admires in “Fanfare” sections. What a nice idea! He may then include a recipe from that person or a recipe inspired by or dedicated to that person along with anecdotes.
This book is a great addition to any cookbook collection and a popular choice for Anglophiles or those who like to read cooking stories. And good news for fans: if you’re still hungry, Second Helpings of Roast Chicken was just published.
May 3rd, 2008
Molly - Central
The registration deadline has been extended for this year’s Book Club Café! The event will be at Olbrich Gardens on Thursday, April 10th and will feature Betsy Carter, author of Swim to Me: A Novel. You can download the registration form or pick up a form at your local library. Check our Café web site for more information.
Hope to see you there!
March 14th, 2008
Jane
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