Blog Post
My Soul to Take, a novel of Iceland
by manz
If you’re like me and breezed through Arnaldur Indridason’s Reykjavik Murder Mysteries and are anxiously waiting for the next book to be translated into English ( Hypothermia will be released at the end of the month, and the reviews are great), take a peek at Yrsa Sigurdardottir’s novels. As with many of Indridason’s books, they are also translated by Scudder, before his death. Thus far we have Last Rituals and the newest, My Soul to Take. The novels feature lawyer Thóra Gudmundsdóttir as an investigator helping solve random crimes she gets involved in. I am enchanted and awed once again at how well these Icelandic authors paint the Icelandic setting with such description that it becomes an important character in the books.
In My Soul To Take Thóra heads to the Snaefellsnes Peninsula to talk a frantic and spooked hotel owner out of the idea that his hotel is haunted by ghosts and that they are decreasing his property value. Of course while there a body washes up nearby, and she starts digging into the hotel’s history, the mysterious hauntings, and the history of the farms on the land the hotel now resides. Haunting, ethereal, lovely. Snaefellsnes is the perfect setting, as it has a history of its own magical and other worldly powers. This novel is an excellent whodunnit with a full cast of characters.
Blog Post
Teen Stuff: Spotlight on Pete Hautman
by Caser
Pete Hautman is the National Book Award winning author of a strikingly unusual set of novels found in the AADL's Teen Fiction collection. Take his 1996 sci-fi, Mr. Was, where teenager Jack Lund discovers a secret door that takes him 50 years into the past inside the attic of a crumbling cliff estate that he and his mother share to escape from his abusive father. Or Invisible, the story of two boys who have been best friends forever, bound together by their fascination with fire though separated by their vastly different degrees of popularity at school.
Another great choice is the 2004 National Book Award winner, Godless, about Jason, a sharp 15-year-old who breaks from the tenets of his unshakably Catholic father and starts his own mock religion that worships the Ten-Legged God, a water tower at the center of town. One night's rituals on top of the water tower will test Jason, his religion, and his friendships in this quirky, yet thoughtful perspective on organized religion.
Blog Post
Joys and sorrows- Tales of a childhood
by Maxine
Written when he was ninety-three, Harry Bernstein's The Invisible Wall is the poignant story of his childhood in a mill town in England. The youngest of five children from a poor family, 'arry, as he was called, was witness to the anti-Semitism that permeated the town, down to his street where Jews lived on one side and Christians on the other. Harry and his siblings walked home in a group from the Catholic school they attended so they weren't beaten up by the Christian boys. But the author also describes toboggan runs down the hill during the only snowfall of the year, secret deliveries for two sweethearts and lively sing-alongs with a house guest. His father, originally from Poland, always an outcast, took out his bitterness in drink and in abuse toward his wife and children. But the bigotry worked both ways when Lily, the oldest and the most ambitious, falls for Arthur, a Christian boy across the street. Unpretentious and evocative, Bernstein's memoir may rank with Angela's Ashes.
Blog Post
Happy Birthday!
by MariaK
October is a great month in which to be born if you're a writer. Let's take a look at some of this month's many upcoming author birthdays:
10/8 -- R. L. Stine, author of the well known "Goosebumps" series, as well as the "Fear Street" series for teens. Very appropriate Halloween reading!
10/16 -- Oscar Wilde, writer of "The Importance of Being Earnest" as well as many other stories, plays and poems. An excellent 2002 movie adaptation of "The Importance of Being Earnest" is also available.
10/21 -- Ursula K. LeGuin, best known for her science fiction, especially the "Earthsea" series and the more recent "Annals of the Western Shore".
And these are only three! I didn't even talk about Anne Rice, John Le Carre and Michael Crichton. So celebrate October with some literary candy -- much healthier than its sugary, Halloween equivalent.
Blog Post
Irish Pirate Ballads and Other Songs of the Sea
by Caser
This CD's title alone makes Irish Pirate Ballads and Other Songs of the Sea an irresistible catch of the library's collection, and with songs like The Ballad of O Brudair, All for Me Grog / Parnell's March, and Larry Maher's Big Five-Gallon Jar, how could a brave listener go wrong? The chanteys and maritime songs are populated by shanghaiers, criminals, and broken-down sailors who take on the mighty high seas either out of necessity or as a challenge to mother nature herself, and some will not make it back alive! Sung by legendary Irish folk singer, Dan Milner, and produced by Smithsonian Folkways, the record is a not only a rollicking barrel of good times, but a cultural document of the stories and people of the Irish diaspora.
Blog Post
Just what the patient ordered
by annevm
Recently a patron browsing BOCDs to take to a hospitalized friend decided to also check out Overdrive and the Michigan Library Consortium site -- to download audio books. One title that caught her interest was Banker to the Poor. To learn more about using Overdrive and the MLC site – how to find titles, manage downloads, and find programs for downloaded material – sign up for Overdrive Basics, an AADL class coming up Oct. 5, 7-9 p.m. at the downtown library.
Blog Post
Poet, Scholar, Activist
by Maxine
Today, September 30 is the birthday of poet, W.S. Merwin who was born in New York City in 1927. The son of a Presbyterian minister, he began his writing life composing hymns as a child. At Princeton, he studied with John Berryman and Galway Kinnell who became fellow poets of that same generation. Also a student of romance languages, Merwin translated poems from French, Spanish and Latin. Heavily influenced by the classics and his travels in Europe, Merwin started out writing verse plays but on returning to the States, his work became more personal and introspective. In protest to the Vietnam War, his poems reflected a deep dissatisfaction with American foreign policy. Now living in Hawaii, Merwin is a champion of the conservation movement, preserving his own small track of land and its native plant species. Following is an excerpt from his poem, "Thanks," which expresses gratitude for what we may often take for granted:
Listen
with the night falling we are saying thank you
we are stopping on the bridges to bow from the railings
we are running out of the glass rooms
with our mouths full of food to look at the sky
and say thank you
we are standing by the water thanking it
smiling by the windows looking out....
Blog Post
Teen Stuff: The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks, by E. Lockhart
by manz
Lockhart’s The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks is a 2009 Printz Honor Book. In this witty novel fifteen year old Frankie has gone from geek to chic in the course of a summer. She is now turning heads as she enters her sophomore year at the prestigious Alabaster Academy, which primarily consists of students with wealthy families and a history with the school. When she gets the attention of a hunky senior, Matthew, she could not be more thrilled. Frankie begins to get irked when he starts ditching her for his friend Alpha and is off at secret meetings he won’t tell her about. She feels hurt and lied to, and of course wants to investigate and see what these boys are up to. She follows Matthew one night and learns of a secret group they are a part of called The Loyal Order of the Basset Hounds, whose history goes back to 1951. Frankie is a smart cookie, and wants in on the action, but isn’t allowed because she is a girl. This is when she decides she’s had enough and decides to have a little fun herself, using the Bassetts to do the dirty deeds, unbeknownst to them. The pranks which ensue are hilarious.
Blog Post
The World in Ancient Times
by ErinDurrett
Recently, the library has acquired a collection of youth non-fiction books entitled "The World in Ancient Times," which delves into the history of past cultures using archaeology: material culture, skeletal remains, as well as ancient legends and myth, and archaic texts. We have books on ancient Egyptian, South Asian, African and Middle Eastern, American, and even more cultures. These books are filled with vivid pictures and maps of past civilizations and contain some great information for homework/papers or just for fun!
Blog Post
A journey toward healing
by Maxine
Rupert Isaacson's book, The Horse Boy is a moving and riveting account of his family's journey to Mongolia in hopes of healing his son, Rowan, who is autistic. Isaacson, who learned riding as a boy in England, discovers, after many kinds of treatments for his son, that Rowan has a natural affinity for horses when he takes him riding on a neighbor's horse. It takes some time to convince his wife to take what becomes a sometimes harrowing but ultimately successful journey to Mongolia where they entrust Rowan to the original horse people and their shamans. Isaacson conveys the rugged beauty of the landscape and the people who in their wisdom and belief in sacred rituals, bring both Rowan and his parents back from despair to hope.