| The April Staff Picks can also be viewed or printed as a PDF Staff Picks April 2014 (1MB) |
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APRIL FEATURE
 The Plover by Brian Doyle. What an adventure!
This amazing personal quest is a delightful read,
both for the actual sea journey across the Pacific
and the fascinating trip through the minds and
personal relationships of the characters. I've never
read anything quite like it – remarkable, enlightening.
~ Karen Frank
Declan O'Donnell's solitary sea journey evolves into a rousing adventure tale as his small boat becomes the refuge of a number of unexpected - and largely unwelcome - passengers. Lyrical and literate, a love story dedicated to the sea and an exciting and ultimately moving human drama. ~ Alden Graves "No man is an island" and Declan O'Donnell comes to realize that in this wonderfully original book! ~ Liz Barnum |
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| NONFICTION | ||
 Foraging & Feasting:
A Field Guide
and Wild Food
Cookbook by Dina
Falconi, illustrated
by Wendy Hollender. Beautiful
illustrations make
this a refreshing field guide. Recipes
are divided by season and laid out in a
readable format. ~ Bonnie Winchester |
 Kitty Genovese: The Murder, the Bystanders, the Crime That Changed America by Kevin Cook. When
Kitty Genovese was
savagely murdered
in 1964, her screams were ignored by
residents of her Queens, New York
neighborhood. It created an urban
legend comprised of fact and fiction,
setting off a firestorm concerning
apathy in America that still reverberates.
~ Alden Graves |
 The Divide: American
Injustice in
the Age of the
Wealth Gap by
Matt Taibbi and
Molly Crabapple. A dire, takeno-
prisoners call to
arms that takes on
the new American system of justice
between the untouchable wealthy and
the criminalized poor. A frightening,
important work about the abuses and
inherent unfairness evolving into a
warped dissolution of civil rights in
this country. ~ Erik Barnum |
 Being a Rockefeller,
Becoming
Myself by Eileen
Rockefeller.
Growing up the
youngest daughter
of David and
Margaret Rockefeller,
and a greatgranddaughter
of John D., Eileen
Rockefeller has navigated a life of
privilege while struggling to find her
true voice and authentic self, mend
familial relationships and discover her
own philanthropic path. ~ Amy Palmer |
 Mister Owita's
Guide to Gardening:
How I Learned
the Unexpected Joy
of a Green Thumb
and an Open Heart by Carol Wall. Despite
vastly different
backgrounds a deep and caring friendship
results between an upscale woman
and the Kenyan immigrant she hires
to restore her neglected yard. From
him she learns to nurture her heart
and spirit so it too can bloom and
flourish. ~ Jennifer Canfield |
 Through the Eye of
a Needle: Wealth,
the Fall of Rome,
and the Making
of Christianity
in the West, 350-
550 A.D. by Peter
Brown ($24.95).
One of our greatest
historians has written his masterpiece!
In showing how religious sacrifice
changed through antiquity, Brown
sheds new light on how Imperial
Rome fell - and Christianity took its
place. ~ Charles Bottomley |
 Life in Motion: An
Unlikely Ballerina by Misty Copeland. A
well-written pageturner!
An honest,
open account
o f ove rcoming
obstacles, inspiring
perseverance and a tremendous love
for ballet. Everyone will be engrossed
by her incredible life's story. ~ Fran
Tobia |
 Operation Paperclip:
The Secret
Intelligence Program
that Brought
Nazi Scientists to
America by Annie
Jacobsen. An
important, absorbing,
and frequently
chilling, examination of the secret
government program that brought
hundreds of German scientists,
doctors and their families - despite
their political beliefs and wartime
experiments - to America after WWII.
Ethically questionable - a program
that kept German scientists from the
Russians. ~ Louise Jones |
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 Jack the Ripper: The
Forgotten Victims by Paul Begg and
John Bennett.
Although the identity
of the notorious
Whitechapel killer
is still unknown, so
is the actual count of victims. Here
is a convincing argument that there
may have been more than the widely
accepted number of five. This thought provoking
book isn't for the squeamish.
~ Alden Graves |
OLD FAVORITE
 The Fight by Norman
Mailer. Mailer's masterpiece
- one of the
most exciting narratives
I've ever read,
depicting the 1974
fight between underdog
Muhammad
Ali, trying to regain his heavyweight
title, and the Godzilla, George Foreman.
Infectious, edge-of-the-seat prose
will have you breathless even if you
already know the conclusion.
~ Erik Barnum |
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| FICTION | ||
 The Lie by Helen
Dunmore. In
this novel full of beautifully
understated
emotion, Dunmore
invites us into the
tormented mind of
Daniel, a WWI survivor,
as he attempts
to manage the past and present and finds
a kind of closure at the meeting of both
realities. ~ Karen Frank |
 Every Day is for
the Thief by Teju
Cole. An unnamed
narrator visits
his native Lagos,
Nigeria, where corruption,
graft and
violence are widespread,
religion is
panacea, ancient tribal beliefs abound,
but also spots of sunlight and unexpected
beauty. An unusual and thoughtful read
by the author of the award-winning Open
City. ~ Amy Palmer |
 The Other Language by Francesca Marciano. A woman
splurges on a Chanel
dress to celebrate
professional success,
a teenager finds first
love while mourning
her mother's death, a
white Kenyan searches for her place after
a mixed-race marriage. Layered stories set
in varied locales offer surprising twists of
character and plot. ~ Amy Palmer |
 Frog Music by
Emma Donoghue. An atmospheric
novel of a murder
set in San Francisco
during the 1870s,
filled with rich, ribald
characters as well as
a precise attention
to period detail and flavor. Although a
distinct departure from the author's bestselling
Room, it shares the earlier book's
dark soul. ~ Alden Graves |
 The Intern's Handbook:
A Thriller by Shane Kuhn. John Lago is
an assassin working
deep undercover as
an intern at a high profile
law firm, about
to take on his final
assignment before retirement, which he
might not live to enjoy. A black comedy
for people who understood The Fight Club
was a satire. ~ Chris Linendoll |
 The Lost Sisterhood by Anne
Fortier. A
marvelous retelling
of the folklore and
myths surrounding
the Amazons, Troy
and the Aeneid. Rich
in detail combining
lesser-known Amazonian tales with a new
story and two women 1200 years apart.
The characters, weak and strong, breathe
and get dirty and make mistakes.
~ Maeve Noonan |
 The Last Days
of California by
Mary Miller.
Jess Metcalf and her
evangelist family take
a wayward, one-way
road trip through
California to the Rapture,
eating fast food,
staying in fleabag motels. Along the route
through America's wasteland Jess questions
her faith and her actions, while drawing
ever closer to her quirky family.
~ Amy Palmer |
NEW PAPERBACK
 Blood and Beauty by Sarah Dunant. A splendid
historical novel about
the Borgias, especially
Roderigo (Pope Alexander
VI) and two of
his illegitimate, and
beloved, children –
Cesare and Lucrezia. Well researched
(with a bibliography), a lush Italy, richly
imagined characters who belie their evil
reputations. A terrific read. ~ Louise Jones |
NEW PAPERBACK
 Inappropriate
Behavior by Murray
Farish. Farish's
widely varied subjects
and excellent writing
showcase his extraordinary
imagination.
There's not a cheerful
story in the bunch but
there isn't a clunker
either. A consistently strong and moving
collection. ~ Stan Hynds |
 The Citadel by Kate
Mosse .
The final in Mosse's
Languedoc trilogy
about the Cathars
and the resounding
conflicts inhabiting
the South of France
in the Middle Ages
and contemporary times, full of detail and
folklore but always historically based with
a mystery twisted throughout the series.
Strong, evocative, poignant.
~ Maeve Noonan |
 The Guest Cat by Takashi Hiraide. A simple,
beautiful story that
dares to suggest a cat
may be the answer to
all of life's mysteries.
Or as a cat might say,
"Meow Meow Meow
Meow Meow."~ Charles Bottomley |
 Beware of Pity by
Stefan Zweig.
When an officer asks
a young woman to
dance, it's a mistake
with catastrophic consequences.
A breathtaking
tale of love and
duty that inspired the
new movie The Grand Budapest Hotel.
~ Charles Bottomley |