Hey there, Readers!
There are plenty of great books coming out in August. Don’t miss the following titles, available at your library!
Bad Moon Rising by Sherrilyn Kenyon
At the hub of newest Dark Hunter novel is Fang Kattalakis, brother of two powerful members of the Omegrion (the council that leads the Were-Hunters). When war breaks out, Fang must choose between saving the woman he loves and breaking the law of his people, ruining his relationship with his brothers. Don’t miss this suspenseful new novel by this New York Times bestselling author, releasing August 4.
Smash Cut by Sandra Brown
The Queen of romantic thrillers is back with more heart-pounding suspense. Serial killer Chreighton Wheeler is obsessed with re-enacting scenes from films. When Creighton’s uncle is shot dead in a robbery, gallery owner Julie Rutledge is convinced that Creighton is behind it. A rash of crime follows as Julie and criminal lawyer Derek Mitchell join forces to catch Creighton. Brown delivers another fast-paced read, available August 11.
The White Queen by Philippa Gregory
Wildly popular author of “The Other Boleyn Girl” begins a new series, telling the story of Elizabeth Woodville Grey, who assisted in making the War of the Roses take root. As a 27-year old widow, her marriage to 22-year old King Edward IV is not only shocking, but it shifts loyalties: Elizabeth’s family becomes Edward’s strongest supporters while Edward’s chief advisor becomes the epicenter of a plot to overthrow the King. Gregory delivers another entertaining and entirely plausible historical novel, set to release on August 18.
A Big Little Life by Dean Koontz
One of the Kings of horror and suspense shocks readers yet again with his new book- but not in the way you’d think. What’s surprising about this book is that it’s not a horror. There’s no evil priest, crazed psychopath, or unimaginable monster in this new release. Instead, it’s a humorous, touching, from-the-heart story about Koontz’s dog, Trixie. He does insinuate that Trixie is special in an otherworldly sense, but what pet owner wouldn’t? This debut nonfiction novel from Koontz is not to be missed, and is available on August 25.
Know of some other new releases that are worth mentioning here? Let us know what you think!!
--Jenn C.
Tuesday, July 28, 2009
Thursday, July 9, 2009
Downtown Owl Makes the Unremarkable Remarkable
Even if you could find Owl, North Dakota on a map, you probably wouldn’t stop there. It’s just like any other Nothingtown in 1980’s America: no cable. No culture. No nothing. Just boredom, and a whole lot of it. No one moves away and hardly anyone moves in. With a population of only 800, everyone knows what everyone else is doing. All the time. It’s very Big Brother/George Orwell (ironically, the majority of the book takes place in 1984).
Living in this bleak town are several unremarkable characters, living quiet and indistinct lives. Julia Rabia, a schoolteacher who recently moved to downtown Owl, finds herself “more depressed than she had ever been in her entire twenty three year existence,” despite the instant celebrity status that comes with being a beautiful stranger in a small town. Mitch Hrlicka plays high school football and is mainly concerned with how weird he is (or isn’t) and whether he is going to have to fight Chris Sellars. Horace is seventy-three, and thinks a lot about Alma, his wife who passed away of a disease unknown to him.
There are no fireworks in Downtown Owl. Mitch does not become a star NFL quarterback. There is no prince on a white horse to come and rescue Julia. Horace continues to frequent the same coffee shop day in and day out. Klosterman offers an unromanticized looks at small town life. He disregards convention to give readers a look at what it’s like to be a plain person leading a plain life in a plain town. The end result is a raw, honest look into what could be the life of anyone who grew up in rural America.
You would expect the pace of a book about a “down” town to move as lazily as the town itself. However, the plot chugs along nicely, as you find yourself getting more and more wrapped up in the lives of Owl’s citizens. Everything seems complacent, if not perfect, when disaster strikes out of nowhere. Readers will find themselves caught as off guard and unprepared for the story’s climax as the characters are for the blizzard that strands them. In the end, you’ll be dazed, rereading the last few chapters over and over to make sure you understood correctly.
Downtown Owl was only released last year, and is the first novel by Klosterman, a Minnesota newspaper columnist. But you would never know it, because it has a “modern classic” feel to it that is reminiscent of Kerouac or Salinger. Klosterman has accomplished something few people could ever do: he has captured the essence of normality, and recreated it between the covers of his book. In doing so, he has created a novel that is not only timeless, but a true joy to read, too.
--Jenn C
Living in this bleak town are several unremarkable characters, living quiet and indistinct lives. Julia Rabia, a schoolteacher who recently moved to downtown Owl, finds herself “more depressed than she had ever been in her entire twenty three year existence,” despite the instant celebrity status that comes with being a beautiful stranger in a small town. Mitch Hrlicka plays high school football and is mainly concerned with how weird he is (or isn’t) and whether he is going to have to fight Chris Sellars. Horace is seventy-three, and thinks a lot about Alma, his wife who passed away of a disease unknown to him.
There are no fireworks in Downtown Owl. Mitch does not become a star NFL quarterback. There is no prince on a white horse to come and rescue Julia. Horace continues to frequent the same coffee shop day in and day out. Klosterman offers an unromanticized looks at small town life. He disregards convention to give readers a look at what it’s like to be a plain person leading a plain life in a plain town. The end result is a raw, honest look into what could be the life of anyone who grew up in rural America.
You would expect the pace of a book about a “down” town to move as lazily as the town itself. However, the plot chugs along nicely, as you find yourself getting more and more wrapped up in the lives of Owl’s citizens. Everything seems complacent, if not perfect, when disaster strikes out of nowhere. Readers will find themselves caught as off guard and unprepared for the story’s climax as the characters are for the blizzard that strands them. In the end, you’ll be dazed, rereading the last few chapters over and over to make sure you understood correctly.
Downtown Owl was only released last year, and is the first novel by Klosterman, a Minnesota newspaper columnist. But you would never know it, because it has a “modern classic” feel to it that is reminiscent of Kerouac or Salinger. Klosterman has accomplished something few people could ever do: he has captured the essence of normality, and recreated it between the covers of his book. In doing so, he has created a novel that is not only timeless, but a true joy to read, too.
--Jenn C
Monday, July 6, 2009
(READ) IT AGAIN, SAM
This morning, I stumbled across this Newsweek column about the joys of rereading, where author David Gates explains why he keeps going back to certain books over the years. By happy chance, I’ve just finished my annual re-reading of one of my all-time favorites, These Old Shades by Georgette Heyer (I had to buy a new copy, I think my third, because mine is beginning to fall apart, despite my best efforts at preservation). I first read it when I was 11 years old, and it’s a big part of the reason I fell in love with the romance genre. Every time I read it I discover something new about it.
I know I’m not alone in this habit. Everybody has a “comfort read,” a book to pick up when you just want to return to something familiar. It could be a certain mystery or thriller; it could be the books set in the Middle-Earth that J.R.R. Tolkien created for Frodo and company; it could be Bruce Catton’s nonfiction books on the Civil War.
I think the rereading habit starts early in life. I remember as a kid reading, over and over, the Winnie-the-Pooh books by A.A. Milne (the pre-Disney ones, with drawings by Ernest Shepard). Ask any parent how many times he or she has read Goodnight, Moon or Green Eggs and Ham to a child. Adolescent and young-adult readers find and hang on to their favorites, too – books like Bridge to Terabithia or Holes. So it’s only natural that we carry this habit with us into adulthood.
Off the top of my head, I can think of at least a dozen books I’ve returned to over the years, everything from These Old Shades to A Time to Kill by John Grisham and Sharpe’s Waterloo by Bernard Cornwell. Someday I’ll work up the energy to go back and reread all the Patrick O’Brian novels and Dorothy Dunnett’s Lymond Chronicles.
What about you? What books do you find yourself rereading?
--Nora
I know I’m not alone in this habit. Everybody has a “comfort read,” a book to pick up when you just want to return to something familiar. It could be a certain mystery or thriller; it could be the books set in the Middle-Earth that J.R.R. Tolkien created for Frodo and company; it could be Bruce Catton’s nonfiction books on the Civil War.
I think the rereading habit starts early in life. I remember as a kid reading, over and over, the Winnie-the-Pooh books by A.A. Milne (the pre-Disney ones, with drawings by Ernest Shepard). Ask any parent how many times he or she has read Goodnight, Moon or Green Eggs and Ham to a child. Adolescent and young-adult readers find and hang on to their favorites, too – books like Bridge to Terabithia or Holes. So it’s only natural that we carry this habit with us into adulthood.
Off the top of my head, I can think of at least a dozen books I’ve returned to over the years, everything from These Old Shades to A Time to Kill by John Grisham and Sharpe’s Waterloo by Bernard Cornwell. Someday I’ll work up the energy to go back and reread all the Patrick O’Brian novels and Dorothy Dunnett’s Lymond Chronicles.
What about you? What books do you find yourself rereading?
--Nora
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