Book Discussion with Elise Barack 1/6/2011

Elise Barack will lead a discussion of the novel Wanting by Richard Flanagan Thursday, January 6, 2011 at 7:15 pm in the downstairs programming room.

Plot Summary:

Wanting , a story about civility and savagery, revolves around the 19th-century Arctic explorer Sir John Franklin and his family. When Franklin becomes the governor of the penal colony on Tasmania his wife, barren and desperate for a child, adopts an orphaned aboriginal girl named Mathinna. Lady Franklin, burdened with the legacy of Enlightenment ideas and the biases of British Imperialism, sets out to raise her new daughter as a proper Englishwoman, even as she yearns for a child to love.

Civility and savagery are juxtaposed again many years later when Lady Franklin seeks to defend her late husband's honor from accusations of cannibalism after Sir John and his crew starve to death during an Arctic expedition. She contacts Charles Dickens, another famous Victorian, to write a play that will absolve the explorers. The result, “The Frozen Deep,” not only addresses the widow’s concerns but forces Dickens to face his own suffering after the death of a beloved daughter.

Author’s Biography:Richard Flanagan was born in 1961 in the mining town of Rosebery, Tasmania. After finishing school he won a Rhodes scholarship to Oxford, where he earned a Master of Letters degree. He has written several histories and four other novels including The Unknown Terrorist and Gould's Book of Fish. Today he continues to live in Tasmania with his wife and three children

'Tis the Season

Once the decorations are hung, the presents wrapped and the food prepared, take some time to sit by the fire and enjoy a good holiday story. Below are a few suggestions that range from a tried and true classic to a recently published mystery:

Busy Body by M.C. Beaton.  The latest in a popular, “cozy mystery” series set in the little village of Carsely featuring private detective Agatha Raisin.  Although Agatha isn't overly fond of Christmas her community usually celebrates in style.  But this year an overbearing health and safety inspector is trying to stop the decorating, declaring it to be unsafe.  When he turns up dead Agatha is called upon to clear the name of a wealthy woman who is the prime suspect in the stabbing. Also available in large print and on CD.

A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens. What would Christmas be without Christmas ghosts, Tiny Tim, Bob Cratchett and Scrooge? This enduring tale from Victorian England made Dickens famous and has never been out of print since it was first published in 1843. Make this an annual tradition. Also available in large print and on CD. And check out the 2009 movie, A Christmas Carol  starring Jim Carey.

The Christmas Sweater by Glenn Beck. Based on a personal true story, Beck examines the place of childhood memories in our lives, the importance of difficult life lessons, and the enduring meaning of gifts given from the heart. Also available on CD.

Redbird Christmas by Fannie Flagg. A little redbird named Jack is the center of this holiday tale about a small town in southern Alabama and the real miracles that happen when people look for the best in one another. Also available on CD.

Or if you prefer a true Christmas story, try Les Standiford’sThe Man Who Invented Christmas. In 1843 Charles Dickens wrote a small book called A Christmas Carol, hoping to make enough money to pay off his creditors. The book became an instant sensation and helped to reinvigorate a holiday that had fallen into disfavor in Puritan England.

Library Adds Freegal Music Service

If you are a Lake Forest Library cardholder, you can now download three free MP3 music tracks per week through the Freegal Music link at the library's home page.  The Freegal Music service provides access to Sony Music Entertainment’s catalog of thousands of artists and over 100 genres of music.

Once logged in with your Lake Forest Library card number, a usage counter in the upper right corner of the page shows how many downloads you have used.  This counter is reset every Monday morning.  You can listen to a 30-second clip of a track before deciding to download it.  To download, just select "download now," and save the track to your desktop.  Once the track is on your desktop, it can be played or moved to iTunes or another MP3 library for transferring to your MP3 player.

Lake County's Winter Wildlife

The Lake County Forest Preserves publish a Phenology Calendar for Lake County listing what animal and plant life you can see as you visit the preserves in different seasons.  According to that calendar, birds that can be seen countywide all winter long include cardinals, woodpeckers, chickadees, goldfinches, and many different kinds of owls.  Among the mammals active countywide are the Eastern gray squirrel, American beaver, red fox, coyote, and the white-tailed deer. To read more about wintering animals, animal tracks, and the birds and mammals active in winter in Lake County, you can choose among the titles below or call the Reference Desk at 847-810-4610 and let us help you find others.

Winter World: The Ingenuity of Animal Survival by Bernd Heinrich
Mammal Tracks & Sign: A Guide to North American Species by Mark Elbroch
American Goldfinch by Alex L. A. Middleton
Beavers: A Wildlife Handbook by Kim Long
Foxes by David Macdonald
Natural History of Otters by Paul Chanin
North American Tree Squirrels by Michael A. Steele and John L. Koprowski
Owls of North America by Frances Backhouse
White-Tailed Deer by Mark Raycroft
Woodpeckers of North America by Frances BackhouseNorthern Cardinal by Gary Ritchison

The World of the Coyote by Wayne Grady

Fictionalized Biographies

This is the time of year when many of us are searching for good stories to read by the fire or take along on trips. Below is a list of fictionalized biographies that offers insights into the lives famous historical figures.

American Adulterer by Jed Mercurio-- A provocative tale based on JFK’s White House years that portrays the President as a politically savvy champion of human rights whose compulsive sexual appetites cause him to pursue an endless stream of conquests with devastating results.

Eve: A Novel of the First Woman by Elissa Elliott-- An intimate retelling of Eve’s journey into womanhood that boldly reimagines her life while sharing the details of her biblical odyssey.

Claude and Camille: A Novel of Monet by Stephanie Cowell -- A vividly rendered portrait of both the rise of Impressionism and of Monet, the artist at the center of the movement. A love story. (Also available on CD.)

Homer and Langley by E. L. Langley -- An imaginative rendering of the lives of New York’s fabled Collyer brothers depicts Homer and Langley as recluses in their once grand Fifth Avenue mansion, facing perils as they struggle to survive the wars, political movements, and technological advances of the 20th century. (Also available in large print and on CD.)

Paths of Glory by Jeffrey Archer --This real-life mountaineering mystery recounts the story of Britain’s George Mollery and his attempt to scale Mt. Everest. (Also available in large print and on CD.)

Pearl of China by Anchee Min -- In the small southern town of Chin-kiang, in the last days of the 19th century, young Willow and young Pearl Buck bump heads and embark on a friendship that will sustain both of them through one of the most tumultuous periods in Chinese history.

Woodsburner by John Pipkin -- On April 30, 1844, a year before he built his cabin on Walden Pond, Henry David Thoreau accidentally started a forest fire that destroyed three hundred acres of the Concord woods – an event that altered the landscape of American thought in a single day. Against this backdrop, the author penetrates the mind of the young philosopher while capturing the mood of the fledgling nation.

I Still Dream About You

Looking for a good book? You might enjoy Fannie Flagg's newly released I Still Dream About You which is funny and full of heart. The story, part southern novel – part murder mystery, follows the continually interrupted suicide attempts of a former Birmingham, AL, beauty queen Maggie Fortenberry, now 60 and a realtor. To others, Maggie's life seems practically perfect but she harbors heartbreaking secrets in her past. And, Maggie feels like a failure: her real estate agency is in decline after the death of her best friend and employer Hazel Whizenknott, and she can’t help but count a lifetime's worth of missed chances. But through a strange turn of events, she discovers that everybody has at least one secret and that even when you're past middle age there is hope to be found.

Popular southern author, Fannie Flagg, began her writing career as a staff writer for Allen Funt’s Candid Camera television show. Her most famous novel, Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe , was written in 1987 and later became a movie. Other popular titles include Redbird Christmas  and Can't Wait to Get to Heaven . Also look for her books in large print and on CD.

The Piano Teacher

Book Discussion –November 18, 12:30 pm

Join Judy Levin for a discussion of The Piano Teacher by Janice Y.K. Lee on Thursday, 11/18/10 in the downstairs meeting room.

This debut novel received a starred review in Publisher’s Weekly and has gone on to become a popular selection for reading groups.

Set in war-torn Hong Kong in the mid-20th century Lee’s story deals with love, survival and the consequences of choices made in difficult times. In 1942 Englishman Will Truesdale falls headlong into a relationship with Trudy Liang, a beautiful Eurasian socialite. But their affair is threatened as World War II breaks out in Asia. The snobbish insulation of British high society implodes with the invasion of the Japanese. Thrust from privilege into imprisonment virtually overnight, the characters are caught up in intrigue and collusion, a common occurence of wartime survival. Ten years later, Claire Pendleton comes to Hong Kong to work as a piano teacher and also begins a fateful affair. As the threads intertwine, impossible choices emerge setting the present against the past.

Janice Y. K. Lee was born and raised in Hong Kong and went to boarding school in the United States before attending Harvard College. She is a former features editor at Elle and Mirabella magazines in New York.

Take a look at Penguin’s website for an interview with Janice Y.K. Lee and a list of discussion questions.    http://us.penguingroup.com/static/rguides/us/piano_teacher_janiceyklee.html

We look forward to seeing you.

About Time

The American Time Use Survey from the Bureau of Labor Statistics reports the average amount of time Americans spend working, on activities in the home, and on sports and leisure.  The 2009 survey released this past summer shows that Americans with no children under 18 spend on average .42 hours each weekday reading and the same amount of time playing games or using the computer for leisure.  They also spend 2.91 hours watching TV per weekday.

If the recent change to Central Standard Time has time on your mind more than usual,  here are some timely bits and books on the subject from different disciplines:

The best day to visit a Social Security office is the day after Thanksgiving according to Buy Ketchup in May and Fly at Noon: A Guide to the Best Time to Buy This, Do That and Go There by Mark Di Vincenzo.

You can take the Zimbardo Time Perspective Inventory to discover which of these time perspectives is yours:  Past-negative, past-positive, present-fatalistic, present-hedonistic, future, or transcendental-future.  Find the inventory and read about the benefits and pitfalls of each perspective and how to optimize your time in The Time Paradox: The New Psychology of Time that will Change Your Life by Philip Zimbardo, Ph.D. and John Boyd, Ph.D.

According to Adrian C. Ott's The 24-Hour Customer: New Rules for Winning in a Time-Starved, Always-Connected Economy, the "prairie dog effect" happens when customers "pop up" to look around at competing services or products after a bad experience.  Her book tells how companies can capture customers' attention during these and other moments of their hurried days.

In the fall of 2003 science writer Chet Raymo hiked the prime meridian in Eastern England from Brighton through Greenwich to the North Sea.  In his book  Walking Zero: Discovering Cosmic Space and Time Along the Prime Meridian, he writes of his journey, of the measurement of space and time through history, and of scientific history represented by landmarks near the meridian, including Isaac Newton's birthplace, his chambers at Cambridge, and Darwin's house in Kent.

Audio Book Review

Jeff Shaara's Civil War Battlefields:Discovering America's Hallowed Ground (Abridged) CD 973.7 SHA

By Jeff Shaara; read by Robertson Dean

Shaara, who has written extensively about the Civil War, explores eight spots he feels are essential destinations for Americans.  Chronologically from Shiloh to Appomattox, he explains what happened at each battlefield, why it was important, and then takes you on a tour of the area.  This last is the weak part of an otherwise excellent audio as the listener does not necessarily have a map for referral.  Dean does his best to make you see the many momentous events – Pickett’s Charge at Gettysburg, Union miners blowing up earth works at Petersburg, for example. He has a Cronkite-like sincerity which gives way to emotion when he describes the scene at Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address or the carnage at Antietam.  This valuable listening experience should spark interest in visiting these sites and learning more about the pivotal events in our history.

Book Discussion-Thursday, 11/4 at 7:15 pm

Elise Barack will lead a discussion of The Imperfectionists by Tom Rachman on Thursday evening, November 4th at 7:15 pm in the downstairs meeting room.

Rachman’s novel follows the private lives of the reporters, editors, and executives of an international English language newspaper as the era of print news gives way to the Internet age.  The paper's rich history is revealed, including the surprising truth about its founder's intentions, as this imperfect crew stumbles toward an uncertain future.  Publisher’s Weekly says, “(the) chapters read like exquisite short stories, turning out the intersecting lives of the men and women who produce the paper-and one woman who reads it religiously, if belatedly.” Set in Rome, this debut can be enjoyed in one sitting or read piecemeal as a satisfying series of vignettes.

Tom Rachman, a graduate of the University of Toronto and the Columbia School of Journalism, was a foreign correspondent for the Associated Press. From 2006 to 2008 he was an editor at the International Herald Tribune in Paris. The author currently lives in Rome.

Plan to join us -- you won’t want to miss the discussion of this polished, well-written story.  Also available in audio and large print formats.

Apollo 13 - 40th Anniversary

This year marks the 40th anniversary of Apollo 13, NASA’s third mission to the moon. Fifty-five hours into the flight, an onboard explosion crippled the ship. Captain Jim Lovell, his crew and the Missions Operations Team were awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom for their actions which made a safe return to earth possible.

The Lake Forest-Lake Bluff Historical Society will honor this historic event and Captain Lovell’s contributions to space history in a program that marks the beginning of an annual benefit series, “Local Legends”. Bill Kurtis will host a one-on-one conversation with Jim Lovell about his career in space exploration Saturday, October 30 at 4 pm at the Gorton Community Center.*

In anticipation of the program the Library has compiled a bibliography about space exploration and the Apollo missions. The books, DVDs and websites listed below will draw you into this exciting period in American history.

See our collection for:
Apollo 13  (DVD A)
Race to the Moon by William B. Breuer (629.45 BRE)
Apollo, the Race to the Moon by Charles A. Murray (629.45 MUR)
Moon Shot: the Inside Story of America's Race to the Moon by Alan B. Shepard (629.45 SHE)

And visit these web links:
National Air and Space Museum:
http://www.nasm.si.edu/
A Life magazine slide show about Apollo 13:
http://www.life.com/image/50602884/in-gallery/24231/apollo-13-nasas-finest-hour
NASA's Site:
http://search.nasa.gov/search/search.jsp?nasaInclude=apollo+13
Interested in the stars? --Ask an Astronomer:
http://curious.astro.cornell.edu/index.php

*Tickets are $50 for adults and $25 for students and children – proceeds will benefit the Historical Society.

2010 Debut Novels

We all have our favorite authors and wait for their new releases. Yet from time to time it can be refreshing or just plain fun to try a work by a new author. Here are three debut novels ranked among the best of 2010 by Booklist magazine:

 

Anthill  by Edward O. Wilson. The author, a world-renowned biologist, sets his first novel in the swamplands of Alabama. Part thriller/part parable, this novel examines the true meaning of survival in the 21st Century through the eyes of Raff Cody, a modern day Huck Finn.

Bloodroot  by Amy Greene. This novel explores the legacies that haunt one Appalachian family, especially its women --Byrdie, Clio, Myra and Laura-- from the times of the Great Depression to today. But while history and the passage of time play important roles in this story, the characters' family bonds matter most. The landscape changes, their circumstances change but their blood ties are unbreakable.

Rich Boy  by Sharon Pomerantz. Robert Vishniak, the novel’s main character, dreams of escaping Oxford, a working-class Philadelphia neighborhood. His good looks, bright mind, and hard work take him to Tufts University, NYU law school, and finally to a cushy law firm job. A chance encounter with a beautiful girl from his old neighborhood threatens to unravel his new life. Set during the Reagan era.

Book Discussion-Thursday, 10/21 at 12:30 pm

Join us for a discussion of Colm Toíbín’s Brooklyn  with Judy Levin on Thursday, 10/21/10 in the downstairs meeting room.

Brooklyn is the winner of the Costa "Novel of the Year" Award (formerly the Whitbread Award) for 2009 in Great Britain.

In Brooklyn Toíbín contrasts life in small-town Ireland with the excitement of big-city Brooklyn in the early 1950s. Eilis Lacey, a smart, hard-working young woman must leave employment-poor Ireland to find a job. She travels to New York City, where under the auspices of an Irish priest, she secures work at a department store and finds lodging in a rooming house for young women. Soon she meets a handsome, charming Italian man. But her adventures come to an abrupt halt when her sister dies in Ireland. Eilis returns home and must face the decision to stay put or go back to the more stimulating life she has begun to create in Brooklyn.

 Born in 1955 in Enniscorthy, County Wexford, Colm Tóibín currently resides in Dublin. He received a B.A. from University College, Dublin. He is the author of five previous novels including The Master, The Story of the Night, and The Blackwater Lightship, which was shortlisted for the 1999 Booker Prize. He also wrote a collection of short stories, Mothers and Sons. (All titles are available at the Library under Fiction TOI.)

Take a look at Simon and Schuster’s website for a list of discussion questions: http://books.simonandschuster.net/Brooklyn/Colm-Toibin/9781439138311/reading_group_guide

Or just come and listen to Judy Levin lead us through our impressions of this book that The New Yorker calls “a narrative of remarkable power”.

Book Lust To Go

There are many places to go for a book recommendation, but if you like to travel or just dream of travelling Nancy Pearl’s new book is the place to look. Book Lust to Go:Recommended Reading for Travelers, Vagabonds, and Dreamers  is a new title full of reading suggestions to spice up your trip whether you’re flying to Afghanistan or Zambia, driving to Niagara Falls or Philadelphia, or sailing to Cornwall or the Caribbean.

Starting off in Afghanistan Pearl assumes you’ve read The Kite Runner (Fiction HOSSEINI) and recommends Atiq Rahimi’s The Patience Stone (Fiction RAHIMI).

But if you’re driving to Florida this winter through the Appalachian Mountains she recommends Lee Smith’s novels especially Fair and Tender Ladies (Fiction SMITH), and Robert Morgan’s family sagas: The Truest Pleasure (Fiction MORGAN), Gap Creek (Fiction MORGAN) and This Rock (Fiction MORGAN).

Or maybe you’re flying to Boston to visit a child at school or attend a college reunion ... she suggests Dennis Lehane’s books beginning with Prayers for Rain (Mystery LEHANE) and Robert B. Parker’s Spenser series, especially The Judas Goat (Mystery PARKER).

And, if you’re heading east, to the Far East that is, Pearl offers a long list of titles about China and Southeast Asia including Ha Jin’s stories in A Good Fall (Fiction JIN), Peter Hessler’s River Town: Two Years on the Yangtze (915.1 HES) and Colin Thubron’s Shadow of the Silk Road (915 THU).

Nancy Pearl is known for her personal, “spot-on” book recommendations. She is a librarian in Seattle and often appears on public radio.

If our circulating copy of Book Lust to Go (028 PEA) is checked out, you can always browse the Reference Room copy during your next visit to the Library.

(Look for more geographically-linked suggestions in future posts.)

Book Discussion-Thursday, 10/7 at 7:15 pm

Elise Barack will lead a discussion of Little Bee by Chris Cleave on Thursday evening, October 7th at 7:15 pm in the downstairs meeting room.

Short listed for the 2008 Costa Book Awards, Little Bee was first published in England under the title, The Other Hand. 

Little Bee, a young Nigerian refugee, has just been released from the British immigration detention center where she has been held under horrific conditions for the past two years, after narrowly escaping a traumatic fate in her homeland. Alone in a foreign country, she seeks out the only English person she knows. Sarah is a posh young mother and magazine editor with whom Little Bee shares a tumultuous past.

They first met on a beach in Nigeria, where Sarah was vacationing with her husband, Andrew, and their brief encounter has haunted each woman ever since. Now together, they face a disturbing past and an uncertain future.  A sense of humor and an unflinching moral compass allow each woman, and the reader, to believe that even in the face of unspeakable odds, humanity can prevail.

Little Bee has been described as the next Kite Runner by the reviewers in Library Journal.

Take a look at Simon and Schuster’s website for a list of discussion questions:
http://books.simonandschuster.com/Little-Bee/Chris-Cleave/9781416589631/reading_group_guide

Or read an interview with the author at:
http://www.bookbrowse.com/author_interviews/full/index.cfm?author_number=1183

Chris Cleave was born in London and attended Balliol College, Oxford. He is married with three children.

You won’t want to miss this tension-filled, tightly-written book.  Also available in CD and Large Print formats.

Adult Services

Audio Book Review

Crossfire by Dick Francis, with Felix Francis, narrated by Martin Jarvis

Narrator Jarvis and author Francis have been a winning combination for some time and this latest and last (Francis died recently) is no exception. Back from Afghanistan minus a foot, Tom Forsyth discovers that his mother, a prominent racehorse trainer, is being blackmailed. His investigation and a budding romance give him a new purpose in life. The vocal characterizations here are beyond wonderful – the mother, a snotty harridan who mellows, a stiff-upper-lip industrialist who aids Tom, and a stableful of other friends and foes with various British accents enliven an already gripping story. Tom, the narrator, develops self-confidence and maturity as he calls on his military training to outwit the blackmailers. Let’s hope son Felix will carry on the family tradition.

Look for the audio book downstairs under AUDIO. Also available in Fiction and Large Print.

Adult Services

Have You Read Any Good Books Lately?

Most librarians love to read and Lake Forest Library staff members are no exceptions. Fiction, nonfiction, new releases, ”oldies but goodies”, mysteries, sci fi, and graphic novels ... our reading interests span the collection. Click on the titles in blue to check our catalog for availability or to place a hold.

Here are some of our recent favorites:

Crisis Economics: A Crash Course in the Future of Finance by Nouriel Roubini(2010) 388.542
Succinctly descibes capital development and a number of economic crisis from a historical perspective. A great book for any novice wishing to understand the recent global financial crisis and its origin, history, and general background. Also available on CD.

Dead in the Family by Charlaine Harris(2010) Mystery
The latest Sookie Stackhouse mystery. Filled with vampires, mind-readers and of course, murder. The "True Blood" TV program is based on this series.

Father of the Rain by Lily King (2010) Fiction
An insightful family drama that examines the emotional complexities of one woman's loyalty to her father. Set in New England, from the 1970s to the present. By the author of The English Teacher.

Kitchen House by Kathleen Grissom(2010) Fiction
This debut novel offers a fresh perspective on the place of indentured servants and slaves on plantations in the American South. Also available on CD.

Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins(2010) YA Fiction
A dystopian fantasy that was first published for teens but has been snapped up by adult readers too. You won't be able to put this down. We don't want to say too much because this is the concluding volume of the bestselling "Hunger Games" trilogy. A must-read for fans. Also available on CD.

Remarkable Creatures by Tracy Chevalier(2010) Fiction
For lovers of historical fiction. Based on two women who hunted for fossils in early nineteenth century Bath, this unusual plot encompasses larger questions about religion and science, threats to one’s worldview, how discoveries are made and how knowledge progresses. Chevalier is the author of The Girl with a Pearl Earring. Also available in Large Print and on CD.

Summer at Tiffany by Majorie Hart(2007) Biography
Written by 82 year-old Hart, 60 years after the summer of 1945 when she worked for Tiffany & Co. It was a time of pinching pennies and dreaming of diamonds. This memoir evokes the heady atmosphere of New York City during World War II, as seen through the eyes of two young women, fresh off the train from Iowa. Also available in Large Print.

Adult Services

Ryder Cup Reading

If you are a golf fan, then you must be looking forward to the 2010 Ryder Cup coming up in Wales on October 1-3. In anticipation of the event, you may want to read a title from the list below. Just click on the title to read more about it in the library's catalog. You can call the Reference Desk at 847-810-4610 to have a book that is on the shelf pulled and held for you.

Cracking the Code: the Winning Ryder Cup Strategy: Make it Work for You by Paul Azinger and Ron Braund (2010)

The Green by Troon McAllister (1999) - A satirical novel about a Ryder Cup captain and his team.

The Money-whipped Steer-job Three-jack Give-up Artist by Dan Jenkins (2001) - A humorous novel about one pro's attempts at making the Ryder Cup team.

Adult Services

Questionpoint.org

Professional reference services are available from any computer with Internet access!

The door to quality reference never closes when you take advantage of the outstanding Questionpoint services. Professional librarians from the United States and around the world are on duty to search commercial and internet databases. The easy-to-use Questionpoint website is available to students seeking information 24/7 and you receive speedy, accurate, trustworthy responses.

Just go to the Library's homepage and click on "AskAway" in the left-hand column to chat on-line with a reference librarian.