Summer Reading: 2012

Traveling back in time, from Oxford circa 2060 into the thick of World War II, was a routine excursion for three British historians eager to study firsthand the heroism and horrors of the Dunkirk evacuation and the London Blitz. But getting marooned in war-torn 1940 England has turned Michael Davies, Merope Ward, and Polly Churchill from temporal tourists into besieged citizens struggling to survive Hitler’s devastating onslaught. And now there’s more to worry about than just getting back home: The impossibility of altering past events has always been a core belief of time-travel theory—but it may be tragically wrong. A heartrending continuation (not a sequel) to the author’s Blackout. Winner of the Nebula award.

As a child growing up in Wales, Morwenna played among the spirits who made their homes in industrial ruins. But her mind found freedom in the science fiction novels that were her closest companions. When her half-mad mother tried to bend the spirits to dark ends, Mori was forced to confront her in a magical battle that left her crippled—and her twin sister dead. Fleeing to a father whom she barely knew, Mori was sent to boarding school in England—a place all but devoid of true magic. There, she tempted fate by doing magic herself, in an attempt to find a circle of like-minded friends. But her magic also drew the attention of her mother, bringing about a reckoning that could no longer be put off. One of School Library Journal’s Best Adult Books 4 Teens titles of 2011.

Twelve-year-old September lives in Omaha, and used to have an ordinary life, until her father went to war and her mother went to work. One day, September is met at her kitchen window by a Green Wind (taking the form of a gentleman in a green jacket), who invites her on an adventure, implying that her help is needed in Fairyland. The new Marquess is unpredictable and fickle, and also not much older than September. Only September can retrieve a talisman the Marquess wants from the enchanted woods, and if she doesn’t . . . then the Marquess will make life impossible for the inhabitants of Fairyland. September is already making new friends, including a book-loving Wyvern and a mysterious boy named Saturday. It has flavors of L. Frank Baum, Lewis Carroll, and Terry Pratchett. A Publishers Weekly Best Children's Fiction title for 2011.

Her name was Henrietta Lacks, but scientists know her as HeLa. She was a poor Southern tobacco farmer who worked the same land as her slave ancestors, yet her cells—taken without her knowledge—became one of the most important tools in medicine. The first “immortal” human cells grown in culture, they are still alive today, though she has been dead for more than sixty years. If you could pile all HeLa cells ever grown onto a scale, they’d weigh more than 50 million metric tons—as much as a hundred Empire State Buildings. HeLa cells were vital for developing the polio vaccine; uncovered secrets of cancer, viruses, and the atom bomb’s effects; helped lead to important advances like in vitro fertilization, cloning, and gene mapping; and have been bought and sold by the billions. A tale of modern science, the wonders it can perform and how easily it can exploit society's most vulnerable people. It won the Chicago Tribune Heartland Prize and the Wellcome Trust Book Prize, and was named The Best Book of 2010 by Amazon.com, and a Best Book of the Year by Entertainment Weekly; O, The Oprah Magazine; The New York Times; Washington Post; US News & World Report; and numerous others.

In this beautifully written work, Pulitzer Prize–winning author Isabel Wilkerson chronicles one of the great untold stories of American history: the decades-long migration of black citizens who fled the South for northern and western cities, in search of a better life. From 1915 to 1970, this exodus of almost six million people changed the face of America. Wilkerson compares this epic migration to the migrations of other peoples in history. She interviewed more than a thousand people, and gained access to new data and official records, to write this definitive and vividly dramatic account of how these American journeys unfolded, altering our cities, our country, and ourselves. One of The New York Times Book Review’s 10 Best Books of the Year.

This is a fascinating book written by an authority on the chemistry of the edible alliums, which include garlic, onions, leeks and chives. The book is well written and up-to-date. I can thoroughly recommend this book not just to natural product chemists but also to all those who have grown these plants in the garden or enjoyed eating them. It contains many anecdotes and quotations to enliven a chemist's dinner party.' (Chemistry World, February 2010)

"The Fat and the Thin" is a study of the teeming life which surrounds the great central markets of Paris. The heroine is Lisa Quenu, a daughter of Antoine Macquart (see The Fortune of the Rougons). She has become prosperous, and with prosperity her selfishness has increased. Her brother-in-law Florent had escaped from penal servitude in Cayenne and lived for a short time in her house, but she became tired of his presence and ultimately denounced him to the police. The book contains vivid pictures of the markets, bursting with the food of a great city, and of the vast population which lives by handling and distributing it. "But it also embraces a powerful allegory," writes Mr. E. A. Vizetelly in his preface to the English translation, "the prose song of the eternal battle between the lean of this world and the fat - a battle in which, as the author shows, the latter always come off successful. M. Zola had a distinct social aim in writing this book." (J. G. Patterson)

This novel gives a surprisingly interesting picture of how choosing and selling paintings is handled in the fine arts world of New York City.

This is a book for dog lovers – told by a dog! A heartwarming story – uplifting, yet sad at times – a life with a family described by their dog. It may make you cry, but also give you an understanding into the life of the dog who loves racing in the rain.

A daughter writes about her famous father (Sophie’s Choice). It is a gripping story about how she tries to understand and cope with her difficult and strong-minded father, who has a major battle with depression. A well-written memoir.

England in the 1520s is a heartbeat from disaster. If the king dies without a male heir, the country could be destroyed by civil war. Henry VIII wants to annul his marriage of twenty years, and marry Anne Boleyn. The pope and most of Europe oppose him. The quest for the petulant king’s freedom destroys his advisor, the brilliant Cardinal Wolsey, and leaves a power vacuum and a deadlock. Into this impasse steps Thomas Cromwell. Son of a brutal blacksmith, a political genius, a briber, a bully and a charmer, Cromwell has broken all the rules of a rigid society in his rise to power, and is prepared to break some more. Rising from the ashes of personal disaster - the loss of his young family and of Wolsley, his beloved patron - he picks his way deftly through a court where ‘man is wolf to man’. Pitting himself against parliament, the political establishment and the papacy, he is prepared to reshape England to his own and Henry’s desires. You will be sure to be captured up in all of the sweeping machinations and court intrigues!

London, 1760. For Jamie Fraser, paroled prisoner-of-war, life is coming apart at the seams. In the remote Lake District, where he’s close enough to the son he cannot claim as his own, Jamie’s quiet existence is interrupted first by dreams of his lost wife, then by the appearance of an erstwhile comrade still fighting to rally the Irish. But Jamie has sworn off politics, fighting, and war. Until Lord John Grey shows up with a summons that will take him away from everything he loves—again. Lord John is in possession of explosive documents that expose a damning case of corruption against a British officer. But they also hint at a more insidious danger. Soon Lord John and Jamie are unwilling companions on the road to Ireland, a country whose dark castles hold dreadful secrets, and whose bogs hide the bones of the dead. Readers of Gabaldon’s Outlander series will not be disappointed in this historical adventure!

As a young woman, Roseanne McNulty was one of the most beautiful and beguiling girls in County Sligo, Ireland. Now, as her hundredth year draws near, she is a patient at Roscommon Regional Mental Hospital, and she decides to record the events of her life. As Roseanne revisits her past, hiding the manuscript beneath the floorboards in her bedroom, she learns that Roscommon Hospital will be closed in a few months and that her caregiver, Dr. Greene, has been asked to evaluate the patients and decide if they can return to society. Roseanne is of particular interest to Dr. Greene, and as he researches her case he discovers a document written by a local priest that tells a very different story of Roseanne’s life than what she recalls. As doctor and patient attempt to understand each other, they begin to uncover long-buried secrets about themselves.

From the cover: “An ‘imperfect’ crew of reporters and editors working for an international English language newspaper stumble toward an uncertain future as the era of print news gives way to the Internet age. The story is set against the gorgeous backdrop of Rome.” A fun, somewhat unusual read that is interesting to entertain especially as “journalism as we know it” seems to be dying, or moving in a new direction.

“This work is a novel about first lovers meeting again after more than thirty years, walking the streets of Rome and re-immersing themselves in their lost past. Miranda and Adam, high school sweethearts now in their late fifties, arrive by chance at the same time in Rome, where they once spent a summer deeply in love, blissfully living together. At an awkward reunion, the two, who parted in an atmosphere of passionate betrayal in the 1960s and haven't seen each other since, are surprised to discover that they may still have something to talk about; they decide that, for these few weeks, they will take daily walks together. As they experience Rome, the pleasures of eye and palate, and the daily drama of the streets, they review their lives (married to others, and with grown children) and gradually explore not just what matters to them now, but what happened to them long ago. Miranda and Adam are masterfully portrayed characters, intent on understanding who they are in relation to who they were. Theirs is a rich and wise story of forgiveness and reckoning.” An interesting novel, though perhaps not quite what I expected.

“Sixty years after a book's publication, its author remembers his lost love and missing son, while a teenage girl named for one of the book's characters seeks her namesake, as well as a cure for her widowed mother's loneliness.”

This is one of the best books I have ever read. It is now added to one of my all-time favorite books list. It is the story itself as well as the narrative style that makes this an incredibly special work. That said, it is probably not for everyone. Highly recommended to anyone who would like to engage a very unique work of fiction.

"Madeleine Hanna breaks out of her straight-and-narrow mold when she falls in love with charismatic loner Leonard Bankhead, while at the same time an old friend of hers resurfaces, obsessed with the idea that Madeleine is his destiny."

An interesting, somewhat intriguing novel in which I most enjoyed the criticism of academe/intellectual pretentiousness as well as the variety of academic references. But, I was disappointed with the direction it ultimately followed and the somewhat lacking development of the main characters. Worth a try if you are curious in drawing your own conclusion(s).

Carr describes how human thought has been shaped through the centuries by "tools of the mind"--from the alphabet to maps, to the printing press, the clock, and the computer. Here he expands his argument into a compelling exploration of the Internet's intellectual and cultural consequences for its users.

Not to be confused with a similar sounding title that is very popular right now, this is the story of fifteen-year-old Lina, her mother, and brother who are pulled from their Lithuanian home by Soviet guards in 1941 and sent to Siberia, where her father is sentenced to death in a prison camp while she fights for her life, vowing to honor her family and the thousands like hers by burying her story in a jar on Lithuanian soil. Historical fiction based on real events.

Alice Howland, happily married with three grown children and a house on the Cape, is a celebrated Harvard professor at the height of her career when she notices a forgetfulness creeping into her life. As confusion starts to cloud her thinking and her memory begins to fail her, she receives a devastating diagnosis: early onset Alzheimer's disease.

It's 1996, and less than half of all American high school students have ever used the Internet. Emma just got her first computer and her friend Josh gives her an AOL CD-ROM. They power up the computer and log on--and discover themselves on Facebook, fifteen years in the future. Everybody wonders what their destiny will be. Josh and Emma are about to find out.

The Scorpio Races happen every November. Riders attempt to keep hold of their water horses long enough to make it to the finish line. Some riders live. Others die. At age nineteen, Sean Kendrick is the returning champion. He is a young man of few words, and if he has any fears, he keeps them buried deep, where no one else can see them. Puck Connolly is different. She never meant to ride in the Scorpio Races. But fate hasn’t given her much of a chance. So she enters the competition — the first girl ever to do so. She is in no way prepared for what is going to happen.

“‘I brought thee hither to fulfill a divine command. I am appointed thy destroyer, and destroy thee I must.’” Saying this I seized her wrists. She shrieked aloud, and endeavoured to free herself from my grasp; but her efforts were in vain. “‘Surely, surely Wieland, thou dost not mean it. Am I now thy wife? and wouldst thou kill me? Thou wilt not; and yet—I see—thou art Wieland no longer! A fury resistless and horrible possesses thee—Spare me—spare—help—help----’

“And I told them that in a civilized society the law is a deterrent against the strong who would take advantage of the weak, but the South is not a civilized society; the South is a social jungle; that it had become necessary for us to create our own deterrent. And I said that in the future we would defend our women and children, our homes and ourselves with our arms. That we would meet violence with violence.”

3 very different short stories, all highly enjoyable, and I thought the title story was masterful.

Another collection of short stories, including the Red Pony and other lesser known - but equally good ones.

From Allende I chose “The Stories of Eva Luna” for being a collection of short stories, which I guess are even better to be read during summer. You can sit and read a whole story at once. Allende’s stories are sometimes surrealistic, sometimes they are just realistic ones. However they are always touching and meaningful. Do not expect for happy ends, do not expect for “and they lived happily ever after” ends, but enjoy each moment, each scene, each character you are going to meet in her stories. If you prefer read a longer piece, Allende has many novels, as the famous “The House of the Spirits,” also available in our libraries. If you prefer reading in Spanish, you can also check out the original versions of these books and read the very exact words she felt and wrote.

The Nobel Prize in Literature Gabriel García Márquez always shows a pleasurable voice and an enchanting imagination in his stories. Similar with Allende, also South American, his stories are many times classified as surrealistic, and many of them really are. They are full of improbable characters and scenes in a restrict sense; however all these images, scenes, and characteristics are somehow part of our reality, physical or dreamlike; after all, the dreams are real, aren’t they? If you prefer a longer piece, you can also check Márquez novels as “The General in his Labyrinth,” “Love in Time of Cholera,” or “One Hundred Years of Solitude;” all of them available in our libraries in English and in Spanish.

The story of a balding vampire and an overweight werewolf who help protect an all-night diner from being overrun with zombies. If you really need to hear anything more than that then this book probably isn't for you.

A great book for all you freshly graduated seniors. Overqualified tells its story solely through a man’s unorthodox cover letters. He writes one to Irving Oil telling them that he is from the future and plans to take them down from the inside. He writes another to a bicycle tour company with his idea for a bike tour of his ex-girlfriends’ houses. Individually the cover letters are hilarious and bizarre, but taken as a whole you begin to learn more and more about the character writing them and the problems he’s trying to cope with. You might know Joey Comeau as part of the duo behind the webcomic “A Softer World.”

Imagine if Joss Whedon wrote a journalistic horror thriller. That’s what this book is like. It’s a story about zombies, but unlike every other zombie story this one takes place years AFTER the initial outbreak. The plot is this: a group of news bloggers get the chance to follow a presidential candidate on his campaign trail. As the story progresses they start to uncover a chilling mystery, raising the question of what’s more dangerous: Zombies or Politicians? And really, how can you not want to read a book where the main characters are named after George Romero, Shaun of the Dead, and Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

After journeying to an alien planet, Father Emilio Sandoz is the only one to come back alive. However, he returns suffering from severe trauma and his body has been horribly mutilated. If that wasn't enough his rescuers claim he is guilty of heinous acts, including prostitution and murder. After years of refusing to talk about the events that ruined his life Sandoz finally recounts what happened on the planet. It's a truly beautiful story that is profoundly sad. It's about the joys of love: for others and for God. But it is also about the pain of loss: of those close to you and of God. If you're up for riding an emotional roller coaster you won't find a better one than this.

If you really want to mess with your mind this summer, this is the way to go. The story is that of a documentary film as described through a film analysis that’s had notes written in its margins by a man named Johnny Truant. Crazy, right? At its heart it chronicles the story of a family who discovers that there’s something wrong with their house: it’s bigger on the inside than it is on the outside; a revelation that comes with horrifying consequences. The book uses multiple fonts, twisted layouts, colored words, and a million other tricks to create a singularly unique reading experience.

This is a book aimed at young adults, but that doesn’t make it any less amazing for everyone else. It’s about a young boy named Conor whose mother is going through cancer treatments. As if he didn't have enough on his plate already, he begins to receive visits from an ancient monster who claims that Conor called him. The monster refuses to leave until Conor gives him what he wants: the truth. It’s a haunting and powerful story about love and life and loss. It does what fiction does best: uses the fantastical to cut through the smoke and baggage of reality in order to gives us a better view of what’s really there.

Did you know that the punchline to the very first Peanuts strip is “Good ol' Charlie Brown...how I hate him!”? How about the fact that the original lineup didn't have Linus, Pig-Pen, Woodstock, or even Lucy? The original strips are not only funnier than anything in the newspaper today, but they're also fascinating. Everything is so familiar and yet so different from the Peanuts we grew up with. And if the strips weren't enough this volume starts with an introduction by Garrison Keillor and ends with a really interesting interview with Charles Schulz.

A boy in dystopian 2044 works his way to fame and fortune through solving puzzles based on late twentieth century pop culture. A great summer read full of “I remember” moments.

I assumed that this would win the Pulitzer Prize for fiction this year and am amazed that it didn’t make the finalist list. A John Irving-esque salute to baseball, college life, and friendship full of quirky characters and magic storytelling.

Francis de Sales’s Introduction to the Devout Life has remained a uniquely accessible and relevant treasure of devotion for nearly four hundred years. As Bishop of Geneva in the first quarter of the seventeenth century, Francis de Sales saw to the spiritual needs of everyone from the poorest peasants to court ladies. The desire to be closer to God that he found in people from all levels of society led him to compile these instructions on how to live in Christ. Francis’s compassionate Introduction leads the reader through practical ways of attaining a devout life without renouncing the world and offers prayers and meditations to strengthen devotion in the face of temptation and hardship. (Amazon).

“The originality of Rothfuss's outstanding debut fantasy, the first of a trilogy, lies less in its unnamed imaginary world than in its precise execution. Kvothe ("pronounced nearly the same as 'Quothe' "), the hero and villain of a thousand tales who's presumed dead, lives as the simple proprietor of the Waystone Inn under an assumed name. Prompted by a biographer called Chronicler who realizes his true identity, Kvothe starts to tell his life story. From his upbringing as an actor in his family's traveling troupe of magicians, jugglers and jesters, the Edema Ruh, to feral child on the streets of the vast port city of Tarbean, then his education at "the University," Kvothe is driven by twin imperatives—his desire to learn the higher magic of naming and his need to discover as much as possible about the Chandrian, the demons of legend who murdered his family. As absorbing on a second reading as it is on the first, this is the type of assured, rich first novel most writers can only dream of producing. The fantasy world has a new star.”

“As seamless and lyrical as a song from the lute-playing adventurer and arcanist Kvothe, this mesmerizing sequel to Rothfuss's 2007's debut, The Name of the Wind, is a towering work of fantasy. As Kvothe, now the unassuming keeper of the Waystone Inn, continues to share his astounding life story—a history that includes saving an influential lord from treachery, defeating a band of dangerous bandits, and surviving an encounter with a legendary Fae seductress—he also offers glimpses into his life's true pursuit: figuring out how to vanquish the mythical Chandrian, a group of seven godlike destroyers that brutally murdered his family and left him an orphan. But while Kvothe recalls the events of his past, his future is conspiring just outside the inn's doors. This breathtakingly epic story is heartrending in its intimacy and masterful in its narrative essence, and will leave fans waiting on tenterhooks for the final installment.”

This fine YA series is set in Pratchett’s Discworld, and has the author’s trademark British humor, social satire, insightful writing, and features a strong young female heroine. It follows the adventures of young Tiffany Aching as she grows into the role of being the witch/wise-woman for her land, the Chalk. She is aided by a number of memorable mentors and the “wee free men,” the Nac Mac Feegles – six-inch high, kilt-wearing, blue-painted men with enormous strength and an equally enormous capacity for drinkin’ and fightin’. In Wee Free Men, young Tiffany must rescue her young brother from the Queen of the Fairies armed only with an iron frying pan.

In A Hat Full of Sky, she attempts to evade and then overcome an invisible quasi-supernatural creature called a hiver that can invade a host’s mind and eventually kill them.

In Wintersmith, during a ritual dance Tiffany accidentally attracts the attention of the elemental spirit of Winter and must work to restore the balance of the seasons before disaster ensues.

In I Shall Wear Midnight, she must subdue a vengeful spirit filled with a hatred of witches before it can stir up the lands into a witch-hunting fever. Pratchett won the Carnegie medal (the British equivalent of the Newberry Award) for Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents (2001) and was on the Carnegie’s shortlist for Nation (2010 – both available at Keffer). His books – YA and adult – are both great fun and thought-provoking.

I saw a review of this book of poems from this Saint Paul poet, and was mesmerized by the cover photo of a grand piano on its side. Immediately, I was struck by the multiple meanings of the title and ran out to get my hands on a copy. (Sometimes, you DO judge a book by its cover.) These are beautifully visual poems, rich with layers and very accessible. Yes, “Overtures on an Overturned Piano” connects to the jacket photo, but having spent my early years on a farm in northern Wisconsin, the lyrical “Broke” stands out.

While the topic may seem straightforward, Prochnik does a great job weaving in engaging bits from a wide cross section of people. Scientists, monks, engineers, and others contribute to his very timely study that looks at our hunger for, or avoidance of, silence. Thought provoking without being heavy handed, it made me more conscious of the value of silence and committed to making more room for it around me.

A trilogy, each novel written from a different point of view about the same story: the rise and fall of Norwegian television celebrity, Jonas Wergeland, who is convicted of murdering his wife. Kjaerstad, an acclaimed Norwegian writer, unravels the strands of Wergeland’s life by “throwing story after story aloft and examining each from numerous angles, and all at once.” A full summer’s project to read them all!

A compelling, intelligent, and honest memoir of Armstrong’s spiritual journey and perseverance in the face of a series of brutal failures and a frightening disease. She became a nun at age 17 with the hope of encountering God, but she found the loneliness and rigidity of the convent of her day unbearable. After leaving her order and a subsequent failed attempt at an academic career, an unexpected opportunity brought her to comparative theology. Through her research and writing about other religions she found her own personally meaningful concept of the divine as well as a successful and fulfilling life as a writer of over 20 books on religious history and experience.

Two teenage boys go on a big adventure – canoeing from Fort Snelling to Hudson Bay over the course of the summer and fall of 1935. Quick, entertaining read about a long journey.

This book is an autobiography of Romanian violinist Shony Alex Braun. It includes his boyhood imprisonment in Auschwitz and Dachau, his subsequent training and career as a musician and his immigration to the United States.