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JUNE 20, 2013
The Beatles the Biography by Bob Spitz
![]() Fifty years ago, in the spring of 1963, an up and coming British band with one previous hit (“Love Me Do”), found its new single “Please, Please Me” in the U.K.s #1 records chart spot where it remained in the Top 10, for about 7 months. Less than one month later, their next single release “From Me, To You” opened at #1. Five months later, “She Loves You” made #1, and in November, after 13 weeks in the Top Ten, it had sold over 1 million copies in the U.K. Before “I Want to Hold Your Hand” was released, it had already sold 950,000 in advance orders, and it too, shot to #1. Beatlemania was about to explode on the international scene, where mobs of screaming teenagers met (and eventually terrified) the musical foursome everywhere they appeared.
Categories: Lets Talk Books, Staff Reads APRIL 20, 2013
Flight Behavior by Barbara Kingsolver
![]() We meet twenty-something Dellarobia, who is trapped in an unhappy marriage, with two small children, scraping out a living from a failing farmland, in a small, unforgiving Appalachian town. Mistakenly thinking that an extramarital fling will give her respite from the suffocating boredom of her daily life, Dellarobia trudges up the rugged mountains behind their farmland (comically, in her blistering 2nd hand red-hot cowgirl boots) to meet her intended paramour in the hunting blind. Her plan is upended when she reaches the mountaintop and is gobsmacked by the sight of millions of fiery orange Monarch butterflies, displaced from their normal migration habitats because of deforestation and over-development. As word spreads through the community, the phenomenon is interpreted by some as a religious miracle, and by others, who meant to begin cutting trees on that very land, an evil curse. When the media pounces on the story and it goes national, Dellarobia’s farm and the mountaintop are beset by students and scientists, who encamp for months studying the potential for extinction of this fascinating insect, and unwittingly give Dellarobia’s life new purpose and direction. This is a great selection for book groups!
Categories: Lets Talk Books, Staff Reads, In the Know MARCH 28, 2013
Midnight in Austenland
![]() Our main character is Charlotte Kinder, a thirty-something recent divorcee, who has decided to celebrate her newfound freedom by having a fling in Pembroke Park. One evening, while playing a parlor game called “Bloody Murder”, Charlotte thinks she’s discovered a real murder and begins an investigation. This is a comic romp, a mystery, a romance, with a series of fun filled twists and turns, and even a happy ending! This is an enjoyable light read guaranteed to provide a cozy little distraction from the hubbub of daily life.
Categories: Staff Reads, Lets Talk Books MARCH 22, 2013
Among the Mad
![]() The story is shows great empathy toward the victims of war and experiment, and lets us inside Masie’s personal life. But it is first and foremost a study in detective work – one in which the reader gets some insight to the difference between the work private investigator whose knowledge and instincts can lead in very different directions as a huge bureaucratic police investigations team.
Categories: Staff Reads, Lets Talk Books MARCH 15, 2013
A House at Tyneford
![]() She is sent to an estate in Tyneford, a tightly knit, sleepy little rural seaside village. The Lord of the manor is the 40ish Mr. Rivers. He’s a kindly man, but he maintains old world reserve and draws a clear line between the family and the staff. So, Elise who had her own servants in Vienna doesn’t fit in with the servants or the family. She’s lonely, she’s had no word from her parents and she’s terrified for them, war has broken out, and Elise is crestfallen. That is, until Mr. River’s son, Kit, returns home from school at Oxford. He and Elise become fast friends, and even fall in love. Meanwhile, the village is changing quickly. The local lads are going off to war, Mr. Rivers has to work the fields himself to help keep the estate running. The distinction between “upstairs” and “downstairs” begins to melt away as people pull together to soothe the sorrows that war brings to the home front. This lovely novel explores family relationships, the remnants of the dying household service system, class snobbery that brushes both ways, disappearing village life. It’s both sad and sweet and has a satisfying ending. I think it would make a great selection for book discussion groups.l
Categories: Lets Talk Books, Staff Reads MARCH 7, 2013
Judging Books by Their Covers
![]() P.S. This illustration is an example of drop caps from the Book of Kells.
Categories: Lets Talk Books, Staff Reads, In the Know FEBRUARY 9, 2013
A Visit from the Goon Squad
![]() One of the characters in the book says, “Time is a goon squad, right?” A good squad being something that bullies and punishes people. And indeed time messes with everyone in this book – as time brings with it disappointments and loss and sorrow that haunt the past, present, and future. And yet the book is not without humor. So, this book sounds like it might be a mess, right? Wrong! It is small miracle of craftsmanship, and it has a very uplifting conclusion.
Categories: Staff Reads, Lets Talk Books JANUARY 26, 2013
Pride and Prejudice 200 Years Young
![]() This tale is set in genteel rural England during an era in which marriage was of utmost importance to young women, and particularly so for the five Bennett sisters, whose family fortune was entailed away from the female line, leaving them with nothing else to attract prospective husbands but their beauty and wit – which the sisters possess in varying degrees. The story centers around the second eldest sister, the feisty and quick–witted Elizabeth, whose relationship with the haughty Mr. Darcy gets off on the wrong foot, leading to a series of misunderstandings. Jane Austen’s clear-eyed understanding of a woman’s place in Regency society, her wise observations of people and manners, her sparkling dialogue, and ironic sense of humor make this story fresh and fun to read even at the ripe old age of 200 years.
Categories: Staff Reads, Lets Talk Books, In the Know JANUARY 4, 2013
The Brilliant Legacy of Grimm
![]() Now, fifty of these timeless tales are retold by renowned author Philip Pullman (The Golden Compass) and polished to new brilliance in Fairy Tales from the Brothers Grimm: a new English version (released November 2012), which was recently added to the Library's Ruth Vreeland Folklore collection. Check out this great new book and celebrate the brilliant legacy of the Brothers Grimm.
Categories: Staff Reads, Lets Talk Books, In the Know DECEMBER 18, 2012
A Child's Christmas in Wales
![]() Do you have a favorite holiday book, film, song, or poem?
Categories: Lets Talk Books, Staff Reads DECEMBER 11, 2012
A Jane Austen Education by William Deresiecwicz
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Categories: Lets Talk Books, Staff Reads NOVEMBER 8, 2012
Calling Invisible Women
![]() One morning Clover wakes up and discovers that she is invisible. The thing is that nobody seems to notice. They see her bathrobe or clothes walking around, doing the cooking and household chores, walking the dog. She wears dark glasses, a hat and gloves so that she can out, but nobody notices that she’s actually invisible. At first she thinks she’s lost her mind until she discovers that there are a lot of other women just like her, and they get together and meet weekly. One thing they have in common is that they are surrounded by busy people who take them for granted. Once Clover gets used to the condition, she finds it useful. She is able to thwart a bank robbery, intervene in a case of domestic violence, and prevents her son and his friend from getting an ill-advised tattoo. She also was able to turn in an eyewitness article on the bank robbery which has her editor taking her seriously again as a journalist. Then the invisible women discover that they are all taking the same medications: a hormone replacement, a bone thinning preventative, and a mild depressant – all made by the same pharmaceutical company, and they decide to take on the corporate giant. The author of Callling Invisible Women, Jeanne Ray, is a great writer of domestic and romantic fiction whose main characters who are middle-aged and older. She writes with compassion and humor. This is a fun fantasy with a great message for aging women and the people who dare to overlook them.
Categories: Staff Reads, Lets Talk Books OCTOBER 31, 2012
Lots of Candles, Plenty of Cake
![]() In this memoir, Quindlen reflects on her life as she turns 60 years old. She writes with humor, clarity of mind, deep respect, and good sense on such topics as marriage, children, faith, aging, friendships, possessions, finding pleasure in ordinary things, discovering the wisdom of her own voice, and feeling liberated to act on her own authority. This is a short book, but it is chock full of thoughtful insights into life of a woman. This is highly recommended as a selection for women’s book discussion groups.
Categories: Staff Reads, Lets Talk Books OCTOBER 18, 2012
Tales from a Free Range Childhood
![]() Donald Davis isn’t a writer by profession. He is a storyteller. And he is marvelous! He travels over 300 days a year to festivals, colleges, concert halls, and conferences telling stories. He tells in venues where the audience might be comprised of hundreds of people – maybe even a thousand. He is among the best and most successful storytellers in America, and here’s the great thing – for twenty five of the twenty six years that the Library has been presenting an adult storytelling series, he has come to Monterey to tell stories in our Library Community Room! For a short and sweet read, I recommend Tales from a Free Range Childhood by Donald Davis, but if you want to hear a master storyteller, be sure to come to hear him next time he’s in town. Mark your calendars: Tuesday, July 23, 2013. Tickets are required, so check our Web site in June 2013 for advance for ticket information.
Categories: Staff Reads, Lets Talk Books, Upcoming Events SEPTEMBER 27, 2012
Beginner's Goodbye
![]() If you haven't yet read Anne Tyler's latest novel,The Beginner's Goodbye, put in on your list for a time when you're ready for a quick and quirky read. In this short tale, the marriage of Aaron and Dorothy, two hopelessly mis-matched people, ends abruptly when a tree falls on the house and Dorothy is killed. (This is not a spoiler - it happens in the first few pages.)
Categories: Lets Talk Books, Staff Reads SEPTEMBER 11, 2012
Book vs. Movie Throwdown
![]() When Irish author David Mitchell’s novel Cloud Atlas was released in 2004, it won rave reviews and a number of awards for fiction. Readers in book groups across America were alternately puzzled and dazzled by it. Cloud Atlas didn’t make the New York Times best seller list when it came out, because it was competing with the likes of The Da Vinci Code and other blockbusters. But now that it will open a major motion picture in late-October, reading Cloud Atlas is all the rage, and the eight-year-old book is now on the New York Times’ list best selling paperbacks.
Categories: In the Know, Staff Reads, Lets Talk Books JULY 31, 2012
Happy Birthday, Harry Potter
![]() The Harry Potter series is a landmark work of children’s literature that continues to be popular with readers of all ages. It is superb fantasy, a great coming of age story, gripping, fun and filled with richly drawn characters – some endearing, others loathsome. Collectively the series has sold over 450 million copies and has been translated into more than 63 languages. The Potter franchise, which includes books, movies, and merchandise, has earned $6 billion worldwide, and has made J.K. Rowling, who was a single mother on welfare when she received the 2,500 British pound advance for the first book, a billionaire. Happy birthday to J.K. Rowling and to you, Harry Potter.
Categories: Lets Talk Books, Harry Potter, Staff Reads JULY 19, 2012
The Art of Fielding
![]() A group discussion of this book by the Literary Circle will take place in the Library on Monday, August 27, at 7 p.m.
Categories: Lets Talk Books, Staff Reads JUNE 23, 2012
Summer Reading
There’s something about the beginning of the Summer Reading Program at the Library that brings back a flood of childhood memories. When I was in elementary school, my friends and I liked to join the local library’s Summer Reading “Club” (as it was called back in the day). Summer Reading Clubs at my local library were essentially competitions to see who could read the most books over the summer. There was always some kind of large game board tacked up on the wall in the Children’s Room. When you joined the club, you received a game piece made of heavy construction paper or cardboard, cut into the shape of some object that related to the summer reading theme. You put your name on it and you got to move your game piece forward one step toward the finish line for each book you read. (For example your game piece might be a fish and the goal would be to reach the pond.) I was not “bookish”, but I was a good reader, and I usually made the finish line in just a few weeks. By then, I was ready to move on to other summer fun – swimming, riding bikes, kiddie matinees, softball, and “let’s pretend” games with the neighborhood kids.
But my summer reading didn’t stop after I was finished with the Summer Reading Club, because I had the great good fortune to be a child during what has become known as “The Silver Age of the Comic Book”. Most comic books included three or four illustrated stories, usually featuring one main character along with their circle of chums: Little Lulu, Little Audrey, Little Lotta, Baby Huey, Richie Rich, Wendy the Good Little Witch, Casper the Friendly Ghost, Archie and Friends, Popeye, Felix the Cat, Tubby, and Dot. Then there were the super heroes: Superman, Batman, Spiderman, Green Hornet, and Wonder Woman, which were apparently scrubbed-up remnants of “The Golden Age of the Comic Book”. Those weren’t my favorites, but I read them anyway. They were all marvelously silly - the junk food of children’s literature, and l loved them! My library did not carry comic books, possibly because of their flimsy construction, but I suspect there might have been more to it. I never asked. We knew that teachers did not consider comics to be suitable material for book reports, and no explanation as to why was necessary. Comic books only cost a dime, and could be found at any newsstand, drug store or grocery market. New ones seemed to come out every week. By the end of the summer, I usually managed to amass a good assortment of them. Comics were perfect for kiddie commerce because parents did not care in the least if you swapped three dollar’s worth of comic books for two cent’s worth of marbles. They didn’t even care if you just gave your old comics away or put them in the trash. Comic books were just off the parental radar. They were, in a word, wonderful. For better or for worse, comic books, as I knew them in “The Silver Age”, are not a part of today’s childhood experience. But thinking about them makes me feel nostalgic for the benignly unsupervised, wasteful reading experiences of my own childhood summers. How I emerged a grown- up person who numbers “reading for pleasure” among her favorite pastimes is a mystery. Or is it?
Category: Staff Reads JUNE 16, 2012
Lit Hop
Have you ever wondered about the relationship between poetry, literature, and Hip-Hop music? Or have you ever wondered how young people can find relevancy of 19th century literature in today's world? View this 17-1/2 minute documentary about the studies and experiences of musical artist MC Lars, and you'll come away with a fresh new look at these questions.
Categories: In the Know, Staff Reads JUNE 14, 2012
Happy Bloomsday!
![]() If the stream of consciousness style of Ulysses is not your cup of Guinness, you might try Joyce’s Dubliners, a collection of short stories that shed light on working class life Dublin in the early 20th century. This book has a more straightforward narrative and is an enjoyable read, although its literary importance has been eclipsed by Joyce’s master works, including Ulysses. Bloomsday, named in honor of the character Leopold Bloom, has become an annual celebration in Dublin. Now it’s being celebrated right here on the Monterey Peninsula, on Friday, June 16, from 3 – 10 p.m. at the Carl Cherry Center for the Arts. The festivities will include films, lectures, readings from Ulysses, live music and Irish fare. It sounds like fun! You can find copies of works by James Joyce at the library anytime during the year for now,have a Happy Bloomsday!
Categories: In the Know, Staff Reads, Lets Talk Books |
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