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January Offerings from IndieBound

January 2, 2010  |  Recommends  |  4 comments

Remarkable CreaturesRemarkable Creatures

This story is the fictionalized account of the life of Mary Anning. Mary was the daughter of a cabinetmaker and amateur fossil collector. She was born in 1799 in Lyme Regis on the south coast of England. It was Mary who discovered the first documented dinosaur skeleton, a plesiosaur fossil. “Chevalier’s skillful storytelling takes the reader back in history to walk in the footprints of this remarkable woman.”

~Carol Hicks

Thereby Hangs A TailThereby Hangs A Tail

“In fighting crime, Chet is the kind of dog you want on your side: straightforward, ready to hold onto the bad guy (using teeth if necessary), and optimistic, even in difficult situations. Once again, he and his human detective partner, Bernie, dig for clues, battle the bad guys, and never turn down treats. I’m already eager for the third installment!”

~Jennifer Sorensen, Literary Life Bookstore & More, Inc.,
Grand Rapids, Michigan

CommittedCommitted

Elizabeth Gilbert’s Eat, Pray, Love was a most enjoyable read for me and so was Committed. Committed does take a more serious look at marriage and specifically how it applies to Elizabeth and her future husband. I thought there were too many references to her previous marriage, but it did provide insight into why she was reluctant to marry again.

~Judy Cummings

The UnnamedThe Unnamed

“Tim Farnsworth, a respected litigation attorney for a high-powered Manhattan law firm, is seized by a bizarre illness: he cannot stop walking. Whether taken as a form of mental or physical illness or read as an allegorical tale, The Unnamed is an absolutely heartbreaking story of love, marriage, family, and what it means to be successful in today’s society.”

~Joni Montover

The Swan TheivesThe Swan Theives

I LOVED The Historian and am eager to start Kostova’s new work. The premise of the story is that of an artist attacking a canvas in the National Gallery of Art. Psychiatrist Andrew Marlow tries to determine why the artist, Robert Oliver has done this. From the flyleaf: “Richly told, beautifully imagined, The Swan Thievestakes us across centuries, from American cities to the coast of Normandy, from young love to last love.”

~Judy Cummings

A New Year Without a New List? Never. . .

January 1, 2010  |  Recommends  |  79 comments

Almost everyone has compiled a list of top ten or award winning books from 2009. Here are a few samples.

2009 Boston Globe-Horn Book Awards

Fiction Winner:
Nation by Terry Pratchett.

Fiction Honor Books:
The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation, Volume II, The Kingdom on the Waves by M.T. Anderson.
The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman.

Nation The Graveyard Book Octavian Nothing

Picture Book Winner:
Bubble Trouble by Margaret Mahy, illustrated by Polly Dunbar.

Picture Book Honor Books:
Old Bear written and illustrated by Kevin Henkes.
Higher! Higher! written and illustrated by Leslie Patricelli.

Bubble TroubleOld BearHigher! Higher!

Nonfiction Award Winner:
The Lincolns: A Scrapbook Look at Abraham and Mary by Candace Fleming.

Nonfiction Honor Books:
The Way We Work: Getting to Know the Amazing Human Body written by David Macauley with Richard Walker.

Almost Astronauts:
13 Women Who Dared to Dream written by Tanya Lee Stone.

FROM NPR

Best Debut Fiction of 2009:

  • Once The Shore by Paul Yoon.
  • Tinkers by Paul Harding.
  • In Other Rooms, Other Wonders by Daniyal Mueenuddin.
  • An Elegy For Easterly: Stories by Petrina Gappah.
  • Censoring an Iranian Love Story by Shahrian Mandanipour.

The Year’s Most Mesmerizing Mysteries:

  • G. I. Bones by Martin Limon.
  • U is for Undertow by Sue Grafton.
  • Hardball by Sara Paretsky.
  • The Ghosts of Belfast by Stuart Neville.
  • Dial H for Hitchcock: A Cece Caruso Mystery by Susan Kandel.

Best Books for a Book Club Lynn Neary’s 2009 Picks:

  • Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese.
  • The Interrogative Mood: A Novel? by Padgett Powell
  • Too Much Happiness by Alice Munro.
  • A Reliable Wife by Robert Goolrick.
  • In Other Rooms, Other Wonders by Daniyal Mueenuddin.

Nancy Pearl’s 2009 Under-the-Radar Books:

  • Spooner by Pete Dexter
  • When Wanderers Cease to Roam: A Traveler’s Journal of Staying Put by Vivian Swift.
  • The Good Soldiers by David Finkel.
  • Liar by Justine Larbalestier. Teen Novel.
  • Going Bovine by Libba Bray. Teen Novel.
  • When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead. Middle-Grade Novel.

THE 2009 GOODREADS CHOICE AWARDS

All-Time Favorite:
Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins.

Fiction:
The Help by Kathryn Stockett.

Nonfiction:
Columbine by Dave Cullen.

You can find more information at: www.goodreads.com/award.

Caldecott Medal Winner 2010

The Lion and The Mouse

The Lion and The Mouse
This is a beautiful adaptation of one of Aesop’s fables with stunning illustrations of the African Serengheti as well as the title characters.

Newbery Medal Winner 2010

When You Reach Me

When You Reach Me
“Shut out by her best friend Sal, sixth-grader Miranda has to navigate the complicated and sometimes as well as the title characters. dangerous world of friendships, family, and late-1970s New York City.” ~Emily Fear

Very Mysterious. . .

January 1, 2010  |  Recommends  |  11 comments

Here are some of the newer mysteries on our shelves, just waiting for a good home!!

Red to Black by Alex Dryden. From the flyleaf: “Finn is a veteran M16 operative stationed in Moscow. In the guise of an amiable trade secretary, he has penetrated deep into the dangerous labyrinth that is Russia under Vladimar Putin to discover some of its darkest secrets, thanks to a high-level source deep within the Kremlin. The youngest female colonel in the KGB, Anna is the ambitious daughter of one of the former Soviet Union’s espionage families. Charged with helping to make Russia strong again under Putin, she is ordered to spy on Finn and discover the identity of his mole.

The Lock Artist by Steve Hamilton. Edgar Award-winning author Hamilton leaves his character Alex McKnight and creates Michael, the lock artist. From the flyleaf: “Marked by tragedy, traumatized at the age of eight, Michael, now eighteen, is no ordinary young man. Besides not uttering a single word in ten years, he discovers the one thing he can somehow do better that anyone else. Whether it’s a locked door without a key, a padlock with no combination, or even an eight hundred-pound safe, he can open them all.”

The Hadrian Memorandum by Allan Folsom. One of Folsom’s earlier titles, The Day After Tomorrow, is an action-packed adventure I try to recommend to a variety of readers. This new one is about a top detective in the Los Angeles Police Department, who, after a deadly shoot-out, changes his name and leaves the country he loves. With a new name, new occupation, and a new country he is determined to put the past behind him, and we all know that doesn’t ever work. After he saves the life of the President, he is called on again to spy on a U.S. oil company.

The Crossing Places by Elly Griffiths. From the flyleaf: “When she’s not digging up bones or other ancient objects, quirky, tart-tongued archaeologist Ruth Galloway lives happily alone with her cats in a remote area of England called the Saltmarsh, land that was sacred to its Iron Age inhabitants – not quite earth, not quite sea. When a child’s bones are found on a desolate beach nearby, Detective Chief Inspector Harry Nelson calls Galloway for help.”