In Jeffrey Lent's third book, A Peculiar Grace, Hewitt Pearce, a reclusive metal worker who lives in backwoods Vermont is drawn out of his hermit's existence by Jessica, a troubled waif, who shows up at his door. He then finds out that his lost love, Emily, has recently been widowed. Flashbacks uncover Hewitt's painful family history and time spent under the influence while living in a commune. Hewitt must come to terms with his past while risking a new or rekindled love in the present. Lent is the author of the widely hailed first novel, In the Fall which Library Journal calls "a monumental family narrative."

Anne Fadiman's new book of essays, At Large and At Small is in the familiar vein, meaning each essay is "a confiding, inquiring, and witty reflection on a passionately considered subject." (Booklist). These essays follow the tradition of early 19th century works, not the more contemporary critical or personal essay. Fadiman, also the author of The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down, covers a range of topics, from ice cream and coffee to the adventures of an Arctic explorer, butterfly collecting and a personal account of a tragic whitewater rafting trip. Fadiman's language is meticulous, her insights often humorous and her concern for the larger questions of meaning and truth evident in all she writes.

Today, July 10, is the birthday of Canadian short story writer, Alice Munro who was born in Wingham, Ontario in 1930. This small town that she longed to move away from because no one was interested in literature or writing later held the treasures she would mine for her stories. When she was in her thirties, married and with children, her husband opened a bookstore where she found refuge to write. Returning home to care for her aging father, Munro realized the richness of everyday speech and the depth of story in ordinary peoples' lives. Her many stories are beautifully written, full of compassion and insight into the human drama.

Today, July 7, is the 100th birthday of science fiction writer, Robert Heinlein. Considered by some to be the father of modern science fiction, Heinlein wrote over 50 novels and collections of short stories. He never considered becoming a writer. While serving in the Navy, Heinlein contracted tuberculosis and was at a loss on what direction his life would take. When he saw an ad in a pulp fiction magazine offering $50 for a story, he wrote one but decided it was too good and sent it to a science fiction magazine where it was accepted. And so began his new career. Unlike other science fiction stories at the time that were full of gadgets and imaginary machines, Heinlein's fiction dealt with the world as it was and how it could be imagined realistically in the future.

lydia reading

Publishers Weekly has teamed up with AARP to recommend books "for, by and about boomers and others in the over-50 age bracket", called Books for Grownups.

Each bi-monthly list will include five picks each in fiction, nonfiction and self-help/lifestyle. It will appear on the AARP's book portal, as well as the PW site.

The next one will be out in August.

Today, June 30, is the birthday of poet, Czselaw Milosz who was born in Lithuania in 1911. His family eventually settled in Poland. After studying law in college, Milosz worked for a Polish radio station but was fired when he let Jews broadcast their opinions on the air. He also worked for another radio station where he covered the invasion of Poland by the Nazis in 1939. While working as a janitor at a university, he began to secretly write anti-Nazi poetry. His first book of poems, Rescue, was about the mass killing of Jews in Warsaw. After the war, he moved to Paris and then to the U.S. where he taught at the University of California at Berkeley. In 1980, he received the Nobel Prize for literature.

Following is one of his poems:

A Task

In her debut novel, When We Get There, Shauna Seliy describes the coming of age of 13 year old Lucas who in 1974 lives in one of the few remaining coal mining towns in Western Pennsylvania. His large Eastern European family is ruled by Lucas' grandmother, Slats. Lucas' father has recently died in a mining accident. His grief-stricken mother, Mirjana flees and Lucas goes off in search of her. Seliy's novel is a moving and authentic description of a vanishing culture and way of life and the maturation of a young man who faces his losses head on.

For two other novels that expose union busting by coal companies in Kentucky and West Virginia, try Denise Giardina's Storming Heaven and its sequel, An Unquiet Earth.

With increasing life expectancy, family relationships may change over the course of many years. How can we make the most of these years and learn from the experience? Good books—both fiction and non-fiction—have a lot to say about family dynamics and aging. Gerontology educator and consultant Joanne Grabinski will address the topic in Aging and Family: Literary Insights on Sat., July 21 at 2 - 3:30 pm at the Malletts Creek Branch. Join the discussion and bring your own recommendations of helpful literature.

Annie Dillard, known for her evocative nature writing in Pilgrim at Tinker Creek, fiction and poetry brings us a tender, beautifully written love story called The Maytrees. Set in Provincetown, Cape Cod, the novel is about Toby Maytree, poet and handyman and his livelong love, Lou Bigelow, a painter, who meet and marry in this bohemian town after World War II. They read books together, cook lots of soup and raise a son, Petie. Dillard evokes the windswept beauty of the Cape as a backdrop for changes that to others may seem cruel when Tobey, leaves Lou to live with another woman. The Maytrees is a poetically imagined story of love's resillience and proves once again that Dillard is truly a master of her craft.

Today, June 13 is the birthday of Irish poet, William Butler Yeats who was born in Dublin in 1865. Although brought up in a Protestant family, he was not pro-British. Yeats as a young man was more interested in mysticism than politics and his early poetry reflects involvement with some teachers of the occult at that time. But after meeting and falling in love with Irish nationalist, Maud Gonne, Yeats became a spokesman for Irish independence, becoming a senator in the Irish Parliament in his later years. He was also a strong supporter of theater, co-founding the Abbey Theatre in Dublin. Yeats was awarded the Nobel Prize in literature in 1923. As a lyrical poet, Yeats was able to evoke the magic of place as in one of his most famous poems, "The Lake Isle of Innisfree."

I will arise and go now, and go to Innisfree,