BOOKWORM

Thanks to resident, Dave O’Connor who spent much time weeding out older books and duplicates, the Stoneybrook Recreation Center Library has many new books to offer our residents.

If you are an avid reader and  have books to donate, the Stoneybrook library would appreciate your donations.  Just drop them off at the Recreation Center when you are finished.   We would especially appreciate Books on Tape.

Be sure to stop by and check out what’s available.

“PAINTED LADIES”
by Robert B. Parker

Robert Parker’s Spenser has been a favorite tough guy private eye for decades.  ABC developed the television series “Spenser for Hire” based on the character in the late 1980’s.   In this posthumously published novel, the Boston PI tries to retrieve a priceless work of art and deals with the nasty world of academics as Parker did in his very first novel “The Godwulf Manuscript (1973).  Thirty seven novels later, Spenser can still whip up a gourmet meal in a few minutes, still dispatch the thugs who haunt his office and his home all while quoting English poetry to good effect.  If you are a dedicated Spenser fan like Bookworm who has been reading the novels for 24 years, you will really enjoy this one.  If you have never read one, Bookworm suggests you either start at the beginning or plunge in mid-stream.

Spenser agrees to protect art historian Ashton Prince during the exchange for cash of a rare painting by 17th century Dutch artist Franz Hermenszoon’s “Lady with a Finch”.  When a bomb kills Prince during the exchange, Spenser plans to even the score.  And of course, Spenser’s probing into the painting’s history, Prince’s twisted life, the museum that owned the painting all lead to violent reactions.

Bookworm did miss Spenser’s sidekick Hawk.  He is said to be in Central Asia working for the CIA.  As a result there is a lack of Parker’s trademark dialogue.

Also wish we knew Spenser’s first name….just curious!

Parker was born in Springfield, Massachusetts on August 26, 1957.  Parker and his wife had two sons, David and Daniel.  Originally Spenser was to have the first name “David” but he didn’t want to slight his other son.  He removed the first name completely and to this day, Spenser’s first name remains unknown.

He died this past January, 2010 of a sudden heart attack at his desk working on the usual five pages a day.   He will be missed by a multitude of fans…apparently there are two more Spenser novels with his publishers while ”Sixkill” will be in bookstores in May of 2011.

In 2002, he received the Grand Master Award Edgar and in 2008 he was awarded the Gumshoe Lifetime Achievement Award.

“Painted Ladies” is Robert Parker at his electrifying best and you can find a copy in the Stoneybrook Library.

SLIVER OF TRUTH
A novel by Lisa Unger

Lisa Unger writes in her website that an editor whom she respected and who had just turned down her novel said that she needed to make some decisions about herself.  “Lisa, you have to decide what you are.  Are you a literary writer? Or are you a mystery writer?”

Lisa didn’t consider herself either one….she never endeavored to define herself as a writer of anything but “story”.

She began her first novel at the age of 19 and it took her 10 years to finish and finally publish that novel.  Then she published three more mystery novels under her maiden name Lisa Miscione.  They were small books and they will always occupy a special place in her heart.  She considered them the place where she cut her teeth, honed her craft and became a better writer.  You can still find them floating around in the used book stores.

Now with eight novels on the selves, one just published in August of 2010 (Fragile) and her tenth nearing completion, she has become a New York Times bestseller.  Beautiful Lies was the best nail-biter I have read in ages and I highly recommend it.

Lisa Unger lives in Florida with her husband and daughter.
Book Review from Bookworm

Lisa Unger’s sensational second thriller (after Beautiful Lies) puts her in the same league as Harlan Coben and James Patterson.  From the opening section, which ends with a New York Times reporter finding her husband bleeding to death, Unger grabs the reader by the throat and doesn’t let go!

Ridley Jones is a New York freelance writer.  Ridley’s still a little too self- pitying but always resourceful and clever.  She keeps stumbling into the middle of adventure against her will and then seems all too unwilling to turn things over to the “proper authorities”.    Lisa Unger has a great style that makes this book a fast, fun read.   I was a little disappointed at how much of the plot turned out to be a rehash of “Beautiful Lies”.  

You will find out truths about Ridley that her adoptive parents have kept from her all her life.  As Ridley pieces together the puzzle that is her past, FBA Agent Dylan Grace os just two footsteps behind and has his own motives for finding out about her beloved Uncle Max.

You will find a copy of Sliver of Truth in the Stoneybrook Recreation Center Library.

 

THE HELP
A novel by Kathryn Stockett

 

This is an optimistic and uplifting debut novel set during the civil rights movement in Jackson, Mississippi in the early 60’s.  Eugenia “Skeeter” Phelan is just home from college in 1962 and anxious to become a writer.  The budding social activist begins to collect the stories of black women whom are trusted to raise white children but not to polish the household silver.   She enlists the help of Aibileen, a maid who has raised 17 children and Minny, who has found herself unemployed more than a few times for mouthing off to her white employers.  The book Skeeter  puts together is scathing and shocking, bringing pride to the black community.

This has been a wildly popular novel.  The two principal maid characters jump off the page in all their warm, three dimensional glory.   Book clubs armed with lots of tissues will talk and talk and talk…..

It is the first novel of Kathryn Stockett and was selected as the 2010 Indies Choice Book of the Year and also selected as the 2010 Southern Independent Booksellers Association’s Book of the Year for Fiction.

In an email interview with the author, Bookworm learned that Kathryn’s family had a maid named Demetrie and Kathryn loved to sit in her grandmother’s kitchen listening to her stories and watching her mix up cakes and fry chicken.  Even though the Help is fiction, Kathryn wondered what her family would think of it and she felt she was crossing a terrible line choosing to write in the voice of a black person.   But she has succeeded in describing a relationship that was very influential in her life and yet so stereotyped in American history and literature.
Demetrie died when Kathryn was sixteen and she has always wondered what her answer would be to the question of how it felt to be black in Mississippi working for the white Stockett family.  And that is why she wrote this book.

What a moving tribute in the Acknowledgments – “my belated thanks to Demetrie, who carried us all out of the hospital wrapped in our baby blankets and spent her life feeding us, picking up after us, loving us and thank God, forgiving us.”

Some of the reviews:

USA Today  - one of the best debut novels of the year

People Magazine -  you’ll catch yourself cheering out loud

Associated Press – At times hilarious and heart wrenching – readers are hooked

Enjoy this book which has recently been donated to the Stoneybrook Recreation Center Library.

 

Eat, Pray, Love

At the age of 31, author Elizabeth Gilbert moves with her husband to a New York suburb and begins trying to have a child, only to realize that she wants neither a child nor a husband.  Three years later, after a long and nasty divorce, Ms Gilbert embarks on a yearlong trip with three main stops:  Italy, India and Indonesia.

This is a “hot” book right now as the movie starring Julia Roberts opens Friday August 13th.    Bookworm has noticed that many newspaper and magazines are featuring articles regarding the book.  To quote from Woman’s World” August 9th issue – ‘The film will likely be the biggest-grossing of Julia’s career.  And it will once again make her the most popular and powerful actress in Hollywood’.

In the latest crossover news, FRESH is collaborating with Sony Pictures to create an EAT PRAY LOVE fragrance collection ($32 each).   Named  after Elizabeth Gilbert’s book and the upcoming film of the same name, each scent represents a different part of Elizabeth’s journey.

Bookworm had difficulty finishing the book.  When the author burst into sobs yet again in the middle of prayer, or conversation or walking down the street or more likely on the floor of yet another bathroom….I gave up.  This is the type of woman you meet at a party and RUN in the other direction after a few minutes when she starts telling you all her problems.  Bookworm believes that Ms Gilbert was having a mid life crisis as many of us have experienced.  My biggest problem with the book is that this woman is looking for applause for running off for a year, supported by a $200k book advance to “find God”.  I’m sure millions of women would love to leave their everyday lives and travel the world to do nothing but self analyze.  Perhaps she should have spoken to those battling life-threatening diseases, or raising children alone, or taking care of an elderly parent or those who are worried about where their next meal is coming from. 

On the positive – it is a well-written book.  The author takes many complicated concepts and makes them readable.  Bookworm really tried to enjoy the book and even likes the author, but after slogging through a couple hundred pages of endlessly self-absorbed chatter, I was exhausted.  

Pick up a copy of “EAT   PRAY   LOVE” in the Stoneybrook library and see what you think!     Can’t wait to see the movie and read the reviews.

 

“BEING ELIZABETH”

Barbara Taylor Bradford was born in Leeds, Yorkshire and by the age of twenty was an editor and columnist on Fleet Street.  In 1979, her first novel, “A Woman of Substance” was published.

Her novels have sold more than sixty-one million copies worldwide.  She was recently awarded the Order of the British Empire by Queen Elizabeth for her literary achievement and she is a member of the Writers Hall of Fame in America.  She lives in New York City with her husband, television producer Robert Bradford.  This is her twenty-fourth novel and is the third in the series “House of Deravenel”.   (The first is the Ravenscar Dynasty (2006) and the second is Heirs of Ravenscar (2007).

At age twenty-five, Elizabeth Deravenel Turner finds herself in a position few women could imagine: the head of Deravenels, a business empire that spans the globe.  It is a company whose reach is wide and whose secrets are deep.  Surrounded by rumors and disloyalty, she is aware that there are many people who would give everything to take down the company – and Elizabeth with it.   With her enemies circling, she finds herself at a crossroad of choices involving her mind, her heart and her destiny.  As scandal surrounds the one man she has ever loved, Elizabeth discovers how the next move could have final and deadly consequences.

Look for her new book “Playing the Game” to be published in October 2010.

You will find Being Elizabeth in the Stoneybrook Recreation Center Library. 

“LONG LOST”                                                                       

“Long Lost”is the 9th book in the Myron Bolitar series and was published in October 2009.  Author Harlan Coben’s blistering new thriller takes Myron and his millions of fans where they have never gone before.

“Long Lost” begins quickly and takes a roller-coaster ride through the streets of Paris to London and back to the hills of New Jersey. 

Myron is summoned to Paris at the request of an old lover, Therese.  She is in trouble and needs his help.  When he gets there, he discovers that her ex-husband has been murdered and she is the main suspect.  The interesting thing is that more than one blood-type has been discovered at the murder scene and the blood can only be attributed to the dead man’s daughter who has been dead for 10 years.   Did the daughter really die?  Did Therese’s husband have another child with someone else?  All these questions are covered, but when the truth is actually revealed we suddenly reach a stunning a new level!

Coben’s chilling incorporation of modern medical technology and modern interrogation techniques make this novel hard to put down.  Coben puts a wicked spin in an action packed thriller with a horrific yet credible premise.

Harlan Coben has won the Edgar Award, the Shamus Award and the Anthony Award – the first author to win all three.

You will find this book in the Stoneybrook library along with several books by this widely acclaimed author.

Without Mercy

Jules”, Shay’s voice, a whisper, quivered on the recording,.  Jules froze, staring at the answering machine.  “Are you there?”  Oh, please pick up!.

“Please, find a way to get me out of here!  Uh-oh….”

The line went dead.
(A sneak peek from “Without Mercy”

Lisa Jackson has been killing people everywhere from Savannah, New Orleans and Baton Rouge, to Los Angeles to the Pacific Northwest….and it’s been worth it.  A veteran author, Lisa usually writes three books a year and written an impressive fifteen bestsellers.   Her readers come back again and again and with each book, she gains new fans.

Lisa began writing at the urging of her sister, novelist Nancy Bush.  Nancy was convinced they could work together.  They were determined to write and be published and they were…just not together.  They each found success moving in different directions.   Many years later they combined their talents and wrote “Wicked Game”.

Check out the Stoneybrook Library because we have “Absolute Fear”, “If only she knew” and “Cold Blooded”   Enjoy!

 

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society

Good news for Outlander fans.  Diana Gabaldon has just finished Her eighth book in the saga.   Look for “THE EXILE” to come out September 2010.   Gabaldon fans are used to waiting for a new Installment…after all 600 pages weren’t written in a day.  Bookworm can’t wait!                                                                                

Mary Ann Shaffer became interested in Guernsey while visiting London in 1976.  On a whim, she decided to fly to Guernsey but became stranded when a thick fog descended and all planes could not leave the island.    Thus began her fascination with the German Occupation of the Channel Islands.   Many years later, she was asked by her book club to write a novel and several years of work became “The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society”.

Bookworm wasn’t eager to read this lovely book.  The title sounded silly and after reading other books that were told in the form of letters, Bookworm was never impressed.    And yet, The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society” offers wonderful characters, a real sense of an historic time, some very inspiring stories of courage under hardship during World War II and a sweet love story.

This is the author’s first novel and was greeted with enthusiasm by her reading group and by publishers around the world.  Sadly, Mary Ann’s health began to decline and she asked her niece, Annie Barrows to help her finish the book.   Her life dream was to write a book that someone would like enough to publish and though she did not live to see it, this dream has been realized.   Bookworm does not care for stories told through correspondence; however, this book changed my mind.   You can find this book in the library at the Stoneybrook Recreation Center.   Enjoy!

Ford County

Bookworm is featuring the newest John Grisham book, Ford County which is available in large print in our library.

John Grisham graduated from Law School in 1981 and for 9 years he ran his own law firm.  Following the success of “The Firm”, he gave up his practice to write full time.  He is a great mystery writer.

In his first collection of short stories, Grisham takes you back to Ford County, Mississippi, the setting of his first novel, A Time to Kill.   Although this book features a cast of characters you will never forget, Bookworm thinks Grisham should not deviate from what he does best and that is stay with writing spell-binding mysteries.

Read a short story from Ford County,"Fetching Raymond"on line.

“The Bookworm”