]]> Doug Thu, 09 May 2013 12:24:06 GMT http://engagedpatrons.org/Blogs.cfm?SiteID=6653&BlogID=47&BlogPostID=12973 Flight Behavior, which draws from the author’s experience with Southern Appalachian life and her abiding concern with environmental issues. 

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 2^nd 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!

]]> Jeanne Sat, 20 Apr 2013 12:38:25 GMT http://engagedpatrons.org/Blogs.cfm?SiteID=6653&BlogID=47&BlogPostID=12964  
Often when we think of libraries, we think of books.  Today’s libraries still offer books and lots of other resources for information, recreations, and self-directed lifelong learning,  But just as important is the library’s role as a community center where people can gather to enrich their lives, engage with their friends and neighbors to address ideas and local issues, share cultural experiences, and find a public place where they are always welcome.  
 
In the words of the American Library Association, “Librarians work with elected officials, small business owners, students and the public at large to discover what their communities needs are and meet them. Whether through offering e-books and technology classes, materials for English-language learners, programs for job seekers or those to support early literacy, librarians listen to the community they serve, and they respond.”
 
This week, celebrate your local library!
 

]]> Jeanne Thu, 18 Apr 2013 11:19:18 GMT http://engagedpatrons.org/Blogs.cfm?SiteID=6653&BlogID=47&BlogPostID=12937
If writing poetry is your pleasure, join poet and teacher Patrice Vecchione for a Poetry Writing Workshop on Saturday, April 20, 2 - 3:30 p.m.  Adults and teens age 14-up are welcome.  It's free of charge, thanks to the Friends of the Monterey Public Library and a grant from Poets and Writers, Inc., but reservations are required.  Call 831.646.3949.  Visit www.monterey.org/library for more details.

By the way, Patrice has a brand new book of poetry out, and will be selling and signing copies of it immediately following the workshop!

]]> Jeanne Sat, 13 Apr 2013 15:02:48 GMT http://engagedpatrons.org/Blogs.cfm?SiteID=6653&BlogID=47&BlogPostID=12871 “Austenland” novel, author Shannon Hale takes us on a return journey to an English fantasy camp situated in a lovely 19^th century estate called Pembroke Park, where we meet mostly a new set of characters comprised of the Pembroke staff, including actors portraying  Austenesque characters and guests  who, upon arrival, are given a suitable new identity, a wardrobe of period costume, and a crash course in Regency manners and practices.

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.
 

]]> Jeanne Thu, 28 Mar 2013 11:47:23 GMT http://engagedpatrons.org/Blogs.cfm?SiteID=6653&BlogID=47&BlogPostID=12838 Among the Mad  is the 5^th in Jacqueline Winspear’s wonderful series of Masie Dobb’s books, which began during WWI in England.  Masie was a nurse, who became interested in mental health and psychology while treating patients during the war, those who remained injured in their minds long after any physical wounds had healed.  It is now 1931, and Masie now uses her knowledge of psychology in her work as a private investigator.  She has been called in to Scotland Yard to help work on a case in which anonymous letters has been received from a person with knowledge of chemical weapons is threatening to use them on government officials and even the civilian population if Parliament doesn’t do something to support the forgotten men whose lives, bodies, and minds were broken by the War.  The perpetrator has already struck, killing first innocent animals, and then a junior minister from the Home office. They don’t know who might be next, the Prime Minister or even the public at large.  Either way, time is running out.

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. 
 
 

]]> Jeanne Fri, 22 Mar 2013 11:42:23 GMT http://engagedpatrons.org/Blogs.cfm?SiteID=6653&BlogID=47&BlogPostID=12804 Did you enjoy reading Cheryl Strand's wildly popular memoir "Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail?"  Or did you, like me, want to enjoy it, but couldn't really get started?  Either way, if you're longing to read a story about a walking journey of redemption and transformation, I highly recommend "The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry" written by first time novelist, Rachel Joyce.  

After reading about this book, I was pleasantly surprised to find the popular award winner currently available for check-out (no waiting!) from our Northern California Digital Library.  I immediately checked-out the book, downloaded it onto my kindle, and my journey with Harold began.

The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry is a beautifully written story of a recently retired Englishman who sets out one afternoon to mail a letter to a dear friend from his past, and ends up walking over 600 miles across the English countryside, from his southern town of Kingsbridge to Berwick-upon-Tweed.  Harold's pilgrimage changes his life and touches the lives of those he meets along the way.  

The book is filled with beautiful text, full of empathy and human compassion, as well as breathtaking sections brilliantly describing the beauty of being alone and outdoors.  I found myself constantly highlighting sections on my kindle version of the book--so many beautiful, nod-your-head-in-agreement passages.  Here are a couple I found read-again worthy:

"Life was very different when you walked through it.  Between gaps in the banks, the land rolled up and down, carved into checkered fields, and lined with ridges of hedging and trees.  He had to stop to look.  There were so many shades of green Harold was humbled.  Some were almost a deep velvety black, others so light they verged on yellow." 

]]> Katie Fri, 15 Mar 2013 15:00:57 GMT http://engagedpatrons.org/Blogs.cfm?SiteID=6653&BlogID=47&BlogPostID=12802 A House at Tyneford by Natasha Solomons begins on the eve of WWII where we meet Elise Landau, a 19 year old whose life of relative luxury is coming to abrupt end as Jews are no longer safe in Vienna.  Her parents, because of their prominence – her mother is an opera singer and her father is a novelist - believe they will be able to obtain visas and escape to the States, but Elise has no marketable skills.  So, as a stop gap, they send her to safety in England on a domestic service visa. 

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 

]]> Jeanne Fri, 15 Mar 2013 10:12:08 GMT