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Staff Picks February 2015 (2MB)
Staff Picks February 2015 (2MB)
FEBRUARY FEATURE
A Spool of Blue Thread by Anne Tyler.
A gentle, warm, and involving novel about three generations of a Baltimore family. By most standards, the Whitshanks are not remarkable people. They are, more precisely, Anne Tyler people and, for the author's admirers, nothing further needs to be stated. She invests their struggles, large and small, with a subtle nobility that relies upon the enduring bond of family for the source of its strength.
~ Alden Graves
NONFICTION
NEW
The Woman Who Would Be King by Kara Cooney. Over
1,000 years before
Cleopatra, Hatshepsut
became the first
recorded woman to successfully manage
not just a political coup but a religious
one as well and it was entirely bloodless.
A fascinating read! ~ Maeve Noonan
Mecca: The Sacred City by Ziauddin Sardar. Islam's
holiest city has had
more than its fair
share of backstabbing,
bloodshed and
miracles. With insight
and humor, Sardar
has written a lively
history of Islam and the place that
incarnates both its ideals and its reality. ~ Charles Bottomley
Ghettoside: A True Story of Murder in America by Jill Leovy. L.A. Times
reporter Leovy uses
the murder of a policeman's
son to look at
the Herculean effort of
solving crime and stopping
the slaughter in one of the country's
deadliest cities. A heart-stopping true
crime story, a humane call for better
policing and an unforgettable look at how
good cops work. ~ Charles Bottomley
Werner Herzog: A Guide for the Perplexed Paul Cronin. The German film
director Werner Herzog
has dragged boats
over mountains, eaten
his shoe, threatened
to kill his leading man,
and turned up on Parks & Rec - all in the
name of art. This book-length interview
is full of inspiration for dreamers and
tall tales for the credulous. Essential! ~ Charles Bottomley HARDCOVER
The Amazons: Lives and Legends of Warrior Women Across the Ancient World by Adrienne Mayor. This is a fabulous
and long overdue
review and critique of
all the recent scientific
work on the Amazons
from aspects of archaeology, literature,
art and history. Engaging and brilliant. ~ Reviewed by Maeve Noonan
Village of Secrets by Caroline Moorehead. An Alpine
region in central France
became a haven for
people fleeing the Nazi
persecution, but Le
Chambon-sur-Lignon
was not without
inhabitants who were willing to act as
informants. Those whom they betrayed
faced almost certain death. ~ Alden Graves
Yes Please by Amy Poehler. Reading
this book confirmed
that I need to
be best friends with
Poehler - she's worked
hard to get where she
is and doesn't take it
for granted. Full of
testimonials about Poehler's work ethic,
comedic genius, and her "what you see
is what you get" attitude, Yes Please is
for her fans who want a laugh out loud
read. ~ Jess HanlonDO YOU LIKE TO TALK BOOKS?
For book group schedules, check our Events page.
To join Saratoga Springs groups contact Jess at JHanlon@northshire.com
To join Manchester groups contact Erik at EBarnum@northshire.com
For book group schedules, check our Events page.
To join Saratoga Springs groups contact Jess at JHanlon@northshire.com
To join Manchester groups contact Erik at EBarnum@northshire.com
Leaving Before the Rains Come by Alexandra Fuller. This poignant memoir
details the unraveling
of Fuller's marriage
through the lens of a
childhood lived during
the Rhodesian wars.
Whether facing armed
rebels or baboon spiders, Fuller is fearless.
Striding into her own both linguistically
and personally, Leaving Before the Rains
Come is her most powerful work to date. ~ Amy PalmerFICTION
NEW
Golden Son by Pierce Brown. Even
better than the first
in the series! Golden
Son is filled with more
action and higher
stakes as Darrow
immerses himself further into the world
of Golds. Torn between his roots and
his newly formed friendships, he must
figure out his place in the Mars rebellion. ~ Jessica Elder
Unbecoming by Rebecca Scherm. A young
American woman
living under an
assumed name repairs
tchotchkes in a seedy
antique shop near
Paris. Two young
men in Tennessee
are released from prison. The connection
makes a highly entertaining, well
written caper. I couldn't put it down. ~ Sarah Knight
Almost Famous Women: Stories by Megan Mayhew Bergman. Bergman has guts
and imagination
in abundance. Her
almost famous women
come vividly and
surprisingly to life in this latest collection
of unique and wonderful stories. ~ Reviewed by Stan Hynds
Descent by Tim Johnston. A tightly constructed
thriller about the disappearance
of a teenage
girl in the Rocky
Mountains, and the
fissure created by that
loss in a family that
clings fiercely and stoically to hope. ~ Reviewed by Amy Palmer
Of Things Gone Astray by Janina Matthewson. The magic of Matthewson's
beautiful
debut novel is so
multi-faceted, so
original, and so
engaging that it's a
breath of fresh air
for the fiction world. Very highly recommended! ~ Reviewed by Jess Hanlon
Funny Girl
by Nick Hornby. Hornby vividly captures
mod London
of the early 1960s
in his latest– a romp
through British
comedy television of
the time. Barbara, a
young beauty queen
from northern England, ditches her
crown to seek her fortune as a comic
actress. She makes it. Her writers, producers
and co-stars make for fascinating
company in Hornby's latest witty and
wonderful novel. ~ Reviewed by Stan HyndsHARDCOVER
Sweetland by Michael Crummey. Moses Sweetland is
determined to live out
his life off the coast
of Newfoundland
among the ghosts of
his ancestors despite
the Canadian government's
attempt to move people from the
remote outports and islands. This is a
marvelous story that immerses the reader
in the magnificent realm of Atlantic
Canada. ~ Reviewed by Karen Frank
Hold the Dark by William Giraldi. Not for the
faint of heart, William
Giraldi's novel Hold
The Dark, is a bloody,
brutal, ice cold look
inside the darkness of
an isolated Alaskan
town and the unfolding cascade of violence
that erupts in the wake of a child's
death. ~ Reviewed by Jon Fine
Vanessa and Her Sister by Priya Parmar. From Vanessa
Bell's point of view,
we gain further insight
into her sister Virginia
Woolf's troubled
mental state and learn
how her own life as
an artist suffered because of her care
giving and responsibility for the family.
I can never get enough of the Bloomsbury
crowd! A truly enjoyable read. ~ Reviewed by Karen Frank
Holy Cow: A Modern-Day Dairy Tale by David Duchovny. Elsie Bovary, Shalom
the Pig and Tom the
Turkey make a mad
dash for freedom after
Elsie learns the truth
about industrial meat
farming. An oddly satisfying story that
drives home the point that the grass
isn't always greener on the other side. ~ Reviewed by Jess Hanlon
The Chessmen: The Lewis Trilogy by Peter May. This
gritty, contemporary
novel, set in the Outer
Hebrides Islands and
the final book in the
Lewis Trilogy, is the
story of a man returning
home to solve a murder and to face
his murky past. ~ Reviewed by Maeve Noonan
NEW PAPERBACK
Displacement
by Lucy Knisley. When
her elderly grandparents book
themselves on an
tropical cruise,
Lucy gets recruited
to accompany them. This travelogue
is a touching, compassionate, and at
times very funny look at mortality,
generational differences and family.
A very sweet read with such great
illustrations! ~ Reviewed by Jessica Elder
The Room
by Jonas Karlsson. Bjorn, a paragon
of efficiency,
works for a nameless
Authority.
Hostility arises
among his colleagues
when he claims access to
an invisible room, which he "visits"
throughout the day. This spare novel
is by turns an Orwellian fantasy, an
ironic nod to modern bureaucracy,
and a study in sanity. ~ Reviewed by Amy PalmerOLD FAVORITE
La Bete Humaine by Emile Zola. A
French railway worker fleetingly witnesses the brutal
murder of a man through the window of a speeding
train. The killing sets off a chain
of terrible events with twists and
turns, tunnels and side tracks that
will enthrall lovers of complex
thrillers as well as those who
harbor an enduring fascination
with railroads. Naughty, nasty,
and fun. ~ Reviewed by Alden Graves