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Amazon Announces Best Book of 2009

noreply@blogger.com (Elizabeth) — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 15:50:00 +0000

Amazon has named Colum McCann’s Let the Great World Spin: a novel as its best book of 2009.

This is what it says about Spin in our catalog: "In the dawning light of a late-summer morning, the people of lower Manhattan stand hushed, staring up in disbelief at the Twin Towers. It is August 1974, and a mysterious tightrope walker is running, dancing, leaping between the towers, suspended a quarter mile above the ground. In the streets below, a slew of ordinary lives become extraordinary in bestselling novelist Colum McCann's stunningly intricate portrait of a city and its people. Let the Great World Spin is the critically acclaimed author's most ambitious novel yet: a dazzlingly rich vision of the pain, loveliness, mystery, and promise of New York City in the 1970s. Corrigan, a radical young Irish monk, struggles with his own demons as he lives among the prostitutes in the middle of the burning Bronx. A group of mothers gather in a Park Avenue apartment to mourn their sons who died in Vietnam, only to discover just how much divides them even in grief. A young artist finds herself at the scene of a hit-and-run that sends her own life careening sideways. Tillie, a thirty-eight-year-old grandmother, turns tricks alongside her teenage daughter, determined not only to take care of her family but to prove her own worth. Elegantly weaving together these and other seemingly disparate lives, McCann's powerful allegory comes alive in the unforgettable voices of the city's people, unexpectedly drawn together by hope, beauty, and the artistic crime of the century. A sweeping and radical social novel, Let the Great World Spin captures the spirit of America in a time of transition, extraordinary promise, and, in hindsight, heartbreaking innocence. Hailed as a fiercely original talent (San Francisco Chronicle), award-winning novelist McCann has delivered a triumphantly American masterpiece that awakens in us a sense of what the novel can achieve, confront, and even heal."

Together with Let the Great World Spin, Amazon announced its list of its top 10 books of 2009 as well as best 100 books of the year, broken down into a number of categories.

Top 10 of 2009 - PW's list

noreply@blogger.com (Elizabeth) — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 16:43:00 +0000

Between now and the new year all sorts of magazines, newspapers, book reviewers and TV shows will be announcing their own personal takes on the best books of 2009. Publishers Weekly, on 10/28/2009 was an early entrant in the lists (pun intended!) with its Top 10 choice of adult books of the year. Said PW: "While PW has long done an annual best books list, this is the first year it has anointed a Top 10 list, which was chosen from more than 50,000 books submitted for review."

The Top 10, which include both fiction and nonfiction titles, are:
The Age of Wonder : how the romantic generation discovered the beauty and terror of science by Richard Holmes
Await Your Reply: a novel by Dan Chaon
"The lives of three strangers interconnect in unforeseen ways - and with unexpected consequences - in acclaimed author Dan Chaon's gripping, brilliantly written new novel. Longing to get on with his life, Miles Cheshire nevertheless can't stop searching for his troubled twin brother, Hayden, who has been missing for ten years. Hayden has covered his tracks skillfully, moving stealthily from place to place, managing along the way to hold down various jobs and seem, to the people he meets, entirely normal. But some version of the truth is always concealed. A few days after graduating from high school, Lucy Lattimore sneaks away from the small town of Pompey, Ohio, with her charismatic former history teacher. They arrive in Nebraska, in the middle of nowhere, at a long-deserted motel next to a dried-up reservoir, to figure out the next move on their path to a new life. But soon Lucy begins to feel quietly uneasy. My whole life is a lie, thinks Ryan Schuyler, who has recently learned some shocking news. In response, he walks off the Northwestern University campus, hops on a bus, and breaks loose from his existence, which suddenly seems abstract and tenuous. Presumed dead, Ryan decides to remake himself - through unconventional and precarious means. Await Your Reply is a literary masterwork with the momentum of a thriller, an unforgettable novel in which pasts are invented and reinvented and the future is both seductively uncharted and perilously unmoored." (catalog notes)
Big Machine: a novel by Victor LaValle
"A fiendishly imaginative comic novel about doubt, faith, and the monsters we carry within us. Ricky Rice was as good as invisible: a middling hustler, recovering dope fiend, and traumatized suicide cult survivor running out the string of his life as a porter at a bus depot in Utica, New York. Until one day a letter appears, summoning him to the frozen woods of Vermont. There, Ricky is inducted into a band of paranormal investigators comprised of former addicts and petty criminals, all of whom had at some point in their wasted lives heard The Voice: a mysterious murmur on the wind, a disembodied shout, or a whisper in an empty room that may or may not be from God. Evoking the disorienting wonder of writers like Haruki Murakami and Kevin Brockmeier, but driven by Victor LaValle's perfectly pitched comic sensibility BIG MACHINE is a mind-rattling literary adventure about sex, race, and the eternal struggle between faith and doubt." (catalog notes)
Cheever: a life by Blake Bailey
"From the acclaimed author of "A Tragic Honesty: The Life and Work of Richard Yates" comes the unforgettable life of John Cheever, one of the foremost chroniclers of postwar America." (catalog notes)
A Fiery Peace in a Cold War by Neil Sheehan
In Other Rooms, Other Wonders by Daniyal Mueenuddin
" Mueenuddin's collection of linked stories illuminates a place and a people through an examination of the entwined lives of landowners and their retainers on the Gurmani family farm in Lahore, Pakistan." (catalog notes)
Jeff in Venice, Death in Varanasi by Geoff Dyer
"A haunting, if frequently hilarious, meditation on love and art, life and music . . . all reflected in the twinned mirror pools of Venice and Varanasi." (catalog notes)
Lost City of Z by David Grann
"After stumbling upon a hidden trove of diaries, acclaimed "New Yorker" writer Grann set out to solve "the greatest exploration mystery of the 20th century: what happened to the British explorer Percy Fawcett and his quest for the Lost City of Z?" (catalog notes)
Shop Class as Soulcraft: an inquiry into the value of work by Matthew B. Crawford
" A philosopher/mechanic destroys the pretensions of the high- prestige workplace and makes an irresistible case for working with one's hands." catalog notes)
Stitches: a memoir by David Small
"One day David Small awoke from a supposedly harmless operation to discover that he had been transformed into a virtual mute. A vocal cord removed, his throat slashed and stitched together like a bloody boot, the fourteen-year-old boy had not been told that he had cancer and was expected to die. In Stitches , Small, the award-winning children's illustrator and author, re-creates this terrifying event in a life story that might have been imagined by Kafka. (catalog notes)

World Fantasy Awards

noreply@blogger.com (Elizabeth) — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 14:40:00 +0000

Winners of the 2009 World Fantasy Awards have been announced. Read more...

These are some of the awards. The books are available at Harford County Public Library.

Life Achievement: Ellen Asher and Jane Yolen
Novels: The Shadow Year by Jeffrey Ford ("An award-winning author turns his talents to nostalgia and youth, bringing the optimism and dark underbelly of 1960s small-town suburbia to life.")
Tender Morsels by Margo Flanagan ("Tender Morsels is a dark and vivid story, set in two worlds and worrying at the border between them. Liga lives modestly in her own personal heaven, a world given to her in exchange for her earthly life. Her two daughters grow up in this soft place, protected from the violence that once harmed their mother. But the real world cannot be denied forever—magicked men and wild bears break down the borders of Liga’s refuge. Now, having known Heaven, how will these three women survive in a world where beauty and brutality lie side by side?")

Vampire Poems

noreply@blogger.com (Elizabeth) — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 13:34:00 +0000

Just in time for Halloween, the Academy of American Poets has published on their website a list of Vampire Poems. Read more...

Maryland Has New Poet Laureate

noreply@blogger.com (Elizabeth) — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 14:39:00 +0000

From Maryland At A Glance, part of the Maryland Manual Online:

"POET LAUREATE
Stanley Plumly, Poet Laureate of Maryland, 2009-.
On October 1, 2009, Stanley Plumly was named Poet Laureate of Maryland by the Governor. A Maryland Distinguished University Professor since 1998, Mr. Plumly founded the Master of Fine Arts Program in Creative Writing at the University of Maryland, College Park.
He has written nine books of poetry, including Old Heart (2008); Now That My Father Lies Down Beside Me: New and Selected Poems, 1970-2000 (2000); The Marriage in the Trees (1997); Boy on the Step (1989); Summer Celestial (1983); Out-of-the-Body Travel (1977); Giraffe (1974); How the Plains Indians Got Horses (1973); and In the Outer Dark (1970). His work also includes Argument and Song: Sources and Silences in Poetry (2003), a collection of essays, and Posthumous Keats: A Personal Biography (2008).
Born in Barnesville, Ohio, May 23, 1939, Stanley Plumly received his B.A. in 1962 from Wilmington College, and his M.A. and Ph.D. from Ohio University. "

Methland: The Death and Life of an American Small Town

noreply@blogger.com (D. L. S.) — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 15:11:00 +0000

Methland: The Death and Life of an American Small Town by Nick Reding

We tend to think of small-town living as idyllic and serene, certainly better than big-city living, with all its pollution and poverty. Think again. Since the late 20th century, rural, small-town America has been changing, in part due to the loss of family farms to agribusiness, and changing not for the better. Poverty is rampant, with families moving from farms to town life and with local manufacturing declining. Into this void has stepped a trade consistently profitable – the manufacture and distribution of methamphetamine.

Author Nick Reding grew up in the Midwest, and for him, the decline in quality of life has been heartbreaking and alarming. He has seen good-paying jobs in small towns systematically evaporate, as corporate giants have gobbled up companies and either closed them or lowered wages for employees by two-thirds. He has seen how the local folks have coped with the changes, as more people have become users of this cheap and highly-addictive drug. From using to manufacturing and distributing has been one small step out of poverty but deeper into despair.

Reding follows the decline of one town, Oelwein in Iowa, once a reasonably prosperous place, where farms and a meat-packing plant supported nearly everyone. But agribusiness put an end to all that, and the result has been a disaster. Reding follows meth users in their trajectory from prosperity to poverty, looking at causes and effects. He also allows readers to see the complicated network of makers and distributors of meth, from Mexico to the house next door.

Meth is easy to make, with ingredients in plentiful supply and easy to access. A small-town resident is especially able to get the necessary ingredients and make the drug, not in a big, fancy lab, but in a garage, a basement, or a backyard tool shed. While drug enforcement agencies have proposed changes to laws to create more effective barriers to drug manufacturing, pharmaceutical companies and chain pharmacies have done their best to block those reforms and regulations. Reding traces the on-going battle with Wal-Mart and Warner-Lambert. He reveals which members of Congress have been the most obstructive in reform, and readers will be surprised perhaps, when those members are often the very ones in favor of tougher sentences for drug-users.

More than anything, Reding reveals the devastation meth has had on the average small-town resident, whether a user or a person who witnesses the closing of nearly every shop in town as misery and poverty spread. He also shows what it takes to rebuild a town, and sometimes that depends on just one person, a tenacious visionary.

All in all, Oelwein survives, thanks to the persistence of a handful of people, both residents of the town and drug agents who continue to fight for reform of drug laws and pharmaceutical manufacturing. Ultimately, Oelwein may once again revive and prosper to become that which we envision when we think of the glories of small-town life.

D. L. S.

Bright Star - the True-life Romance Behind the Movie

noreply@blogger.com (Elizabeth) — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 14:19:00 +0000

Bright star : love letters and poems of John Keats to Fanny Brawne. (Find this book in our catalog)

If you have seen the movie, which came out in September, you will be intrigued to read Keat's actual romantic poems and letters to Fanny. This is what it says in our catalog about Keats' writing for the love of his life:

"... Keats died at the young age of twenty-five, leaving behind some of the most exquisite and moving verse and letters ever written, inspired by his deep love for Fanny. Bright Star is a collection of Keat's romantic poems and correspondence in the heat of his passion, and is a dazzling display of a talent cut cruelly short."

Man Booker Prize - Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel

noreply@blogger.com (Elizabeth) — Sat, 24 Oct 2009 17:15:00 +0000

Hilary Mantel won the 2009 Man Booker Prize with Wolf Hall, set in the 1520s in the court of Henry VIII. (Find this book in our catalog)
The judges described Wolf Hall as "a thoroughly modern novel set in the 16th century" with "a vast narrative sweep that gleams on every page with luminous and mesmerising detail." They also said the novel, "probes the mysteries of power by examining and describing the meticulous dealings in Henry VIII's court, revealing in thrilling prose how politics and history is made by men and women. In the words of Mantel's Thomas Cromwell, whose story this is, 'the fate of peoples is made like this, two men in small rooms. Forget the coronations, the conclaves of cardinals, the pomp and processions. This is how the world changes'."

Bright Star - a movie about John Keats and Fanny Brawne

noreply@blogger.com (Elizabeth) — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 17:40:00 +0000

Bright Star, a romantic movie about the Romantic poet, John Keats, has been called by the New York Times, "a learned and ravishing new film." It is currently showing at the Charles Theater. Read a movie review...

If you are interested in reading more about the tale of Keats and Fanny Brawne, the love of his short life, you might like to try this biographical fiction book available in Harford County Public Library:

Passion by Morgan Jude (Find this book in our catalog)

"In the turbulent years of the French Revolution and the Napoleonic Wars, three poets—Byron, Shelley, and Keats—come to prominence, famous and infamous, for their vivid personalities, and their glamorous, shocking, and sometimes tragic lives. In this electrifying novel, those lives are explored through the eyes of the women who knew and loved them—intensely, scandalously. Four women from widely different backgrounds are linked by a sensational fate. Mary Shelley: the gifted daughter of gifted parents, for whom passion leads to exile, loss, and a unique fame. Lady Caroline Lamb: born to fabulous wealth and aristocratic position, who risks everything for the ultimate love affair. Fanny Brawne: her quiet, middle-class girlhood is transformed—and immortalized—by a disturbing encounter with genius. Augusta Leigh: the unassuming poor relation who finds herself flouting the greatest of all taboos. With the originality, richness, and daring of the poets themselves, Passion presents the Romantic generation in a new and unforgettable light." (notes in our catalog. See also reviews in our catalog)

More About Amelia Earhart

noreply@blogger.com (Elizabeth) — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 14:00:00 +0000

Tomorrow, Friday, October 23 the new movie, Amelia opens. Yesterday I directed readers to the two books the film is based upon. I also gave the link to the official film website http://www.foxsearchlight.com/amelia/

For anyone interested in learning more about Amelia Earhart and also about women in aviation, here are more websites:

The Official Website of Amelia Earhart http://www.ameliaearhart.com/
Find out about, among many other fascinating things, the search for the missing plane.

The Amelia Earhart Birthplace Museum http://www.ameliaearhartmuseum.org/

The Official Website of Women in Aviation International http://www.wai.org/

Book to Movie - East to the Dawn: the life of Amelia Earhart

noreply@blogger.com (Elizabeth) — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 13:38:00 +0000

The new movie, Amelia, about Amelia Earhart (Read more...) is based upon two books:

East to the Dawn: The Life of Amelia Earhart by Susan Butler (Find one edition in our catalog. Find another edition in our catalog)

This is what it says about the biography in our catalog: "Journalist Butler deepens the familiar picture of the US flier who vanished mysteriously in 1937 to reveal Earhart's personae as an educator, a social worker, a lecturer, a businesswoman, and a promoter of women's rights. She also provides details about that last flight and wades through the accumulated mythology to seek a reasonable explanation for her loss. Annotation c. by Book News, Inc., Portland, Or."

The Sound Of Wings: The Life Of Amelia Earhart by Mary S. Lovell (Find this book in our catalog)

"This definitive biography of aviation legend Amelia Earhart delivers a brilliantly researched report on Earhart's life--from her tomboy childhood and early fascination with flying, her peculiar business/matrimonial realtionship with publisher G.P. Putnam to her consuming quest for avaiation fame." (summary in our catalog)

The Book of Night Women by Marlon James

noreply@blogger.com (Elizabeth) — Sun, 18 Oct 2009 14:00:00 +0000

The Book of Night Women by Marlon James (Find this book in our catalog)

If you are taking part in One Maryland, One Book this year and have finished Song Yet Sung by James McBride, you might like to try for comparison The Book of Night Women by Marlon James.

This is what it says about Night Women in our catalog: "From a young writer who radiates charisma and talent comes a sweeping, stylish historical novel of Jamaican slavery that can be compared only to Toni Morrison's "Beloved." The book starts out with the birth of a girl child called Lilith onto the blood-splashed dirt floor of a slave hut in a plantation in Jamaica early in the 18th century. Her mother dies immediately and Lilith is fostered out to a hateful slave woman who for some mysterious reason is given many privileges the other slaves are not. The child too is privileged, and as a child is required to do no work. With puberty comes an awareness that there must be some underlying reason for her special status but no real understanding - Lilith is difficult, rebellious, and clueless. We see the plantation through her eyes and we only dimly start to understand the brutality of everyone's life - brutality that differs only in degree between the ruthless struggle for survival within the strict hierarchy of the house slaves or the virtual death sentence of working in the fields. Then Lilith kills to prevent being raped by one of the Johnny Jumpers, black hands appointed as overseers of the other field slaves. These Johnny Jumpers regularly roam in predatory bands through the cabins at night, smashing, raping, and killing. With a murder on her hands the girl is hidden away in the basement of the house by Homer, the slave housekeeper - a mysterious power in the hierarchy of the plantation. Homer is the leader of a powerful group of women, whose power is based on superstition and some connection to the debauched long-time white overseer of the plantation. The women try to school Lilith, but she remains headstrong and tries to lift herself up by beginning a relationship with the young plantation owner. The plot twists as the consequences of Lilith's actions unfold - and the women meet at night to plot a slave rebellion.

The book is written in a lilting Jamaican patois that for me brought the images and characters to life, and also somtimes made it hard for me to continue reading. The images of plantation life are all the usual ones and yet the author avoids all the usual platitudes - there are no comforting faithful and loving house slaves nor benevolent masters. This book is full of disturbing images of violence and degradation. It is an exploration of the cruel and dehumanizing practices of slavery. The degradation that it brought to both black and white. Though it is beautifully written, as one reviewer said, this book will keep you up at night.

Elmore Leonard wins PEN USA Lifetime Achievement Award

noreply@blogger.com (Elizabeth) — Sat, 17 Oct 2009 14:26:00 +0000

Elmore Leonard, who has written 43 novels in his 60-year careeer, will
be honored with the PEN USA lifetime achievement award on December 2.

Read more...

This is what the PEN USA webpage said about Elmore Leonard: "As a tribute to his writing accomplishments, legendary author Elmore Leonard will be presented with the Lifetime Achievement Award. In a career spanning 60 years, Leonard has published 43 novels and numerous short stories, creating a distinct literary style that has delighted readers and influenced a new generation of writers. Books like Swag, LaBrava, Freaky Deaky, and Tishomingo Blues are not only classics of the crime genre, but some of the best writing of the last half century. Leonard’s most recent novel, Road Dogs, has received some of the best reviews of his career. He is currently finishing his next book, entitled Djibouti, to be published in 2010 by HarperCollins/William Morrow."

The Secret of the Pink Carnation by Lauren Willig

noreply@blogger.com (Elizabeth) — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 14:00:00 +0000

The Secret of the Pink Carnation by Lauren Willig (Find this book in our catalog)

I was intrigued with an author interview I was reading the other day - I think it was with Tasha Alexander. Asked if she had ever bought a book just for the cover, she said The Secret of the Pink Carnation. She ended up loving the book so much that she tried to emulate it in her own historical fiction. Anyway, I went right out to my local HCPL branch, scanned the shelves, and, finding the book with the lucious pink dress on the cover, I checked it out right away! I couldn't resist! (Incidentally, since I did my blog on historical novels a couple of days ago, I now know why the publisher cut off half the Pink Carnation's head in the cover picture.)

Once I had opened the covers of The Secret of the Pink Carnation I too could not put the book down. In the book are two stories. First is the story of American scholar Eloise who is in London to do research on the identity of an English Napoleonic wars spy called The Purple Gentian. Eloise outwits the irascible Colin Selwick to obtain access to a diary and letters among his aristocratic family's papers. As she reads them, the parallel story of Amy Balcourt and Lord Richard Selwick (aka The Purple Gentian) is revealed, along with the never-before suspected identity of another spy, The Pink Carnation. Colin resents Eloise delving into his family's secrets. Just as Amy Balcourt did in her quest to find and join forces with the Purple Gentian, Eloise falls prey to many misunderstandings in her relationship with Colin. But in this merry romp all is sorted out in both endings to the satisfaction of all parties. Just what those endings are you will have to read the book to find out!

Be warned that if you are an historical purist you will not find a lot to sink your teeth into in this romantic mystery in historical costume. If you are a fan of chick lit, however, you will find a lot to love in the feisty yet misguided, self-doubting yet determined heroines. If you were ever a fan of Georgette Heyer you will love the comedy of misunderstandings between the two pairs of lovers.

National Book Awards Finalists

noreply@blogger.com (Elizabeth) — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 13:31:00 +0000

The National Book Foundation has named the 2009 National Book Award finalists. Winners in each of these categories will be announced at a ceremony on November 18 in New York City. Also to be honored: Gore Vidal with the NBF's Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters and Dave Eggers, the Literarian Award for Outstanding Contribution to the American Literary Community.
The NBA finalists in the categories of adult fiction and nonfiction currently owned by Harford County Public Library are:
Fiction:
* Let the Great World Spin by Colum McCann (Find this book in our catalog)

* In Other Rooms, Other Wonders by Daniyal Mueenuddin (Find this book in our catalog)

* Lark and Termite by Jayne Anne Phillips (Find this book in our catalog)

* Far North by Marcel Theroux (Find this book in our catalog)

Nonfiction:

* Remarkable Creatures: Epic Adventures in the Search for the Origins of
Species by Sean B. Carroll (Find this book in our catalog)

* Fordlandia: The Rise and Fall of Henry Ford's Forgotten Jungle City by
Greg Grandin (Find this book in our catalog)

* The First Tycoon: The Epic Life of Cornelius Vanderbilt by T. J.
Stiles (Find this book in our catalog)

You Can't Judge a Book By Its Cover - Or Can You?

noreply@blogger.com (Elizabeth) — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 13:16:00 +0000

Historical fiction is undergoing a renaissance. For historical fiction fans, today I am sharing part of an e-newsletter article from Libraries Unlimited about current trends in historical fiction. Perhaps it will spark a discussion about what you like and dislike about the new titles, and particularly their beautiful covers.

This is part of what Sarah Johnson, librarian and author, wrote in her article for readers' advisory practitioners. I'm sure all readers will be interested in this glimpse into publishing trends:

"To the delight of longtime fans of the genre, historical fiction is undergoing a renaissance. Especially popular on both library and bookstore shelves are novels featuring strong female protagonists. Readers — especially female readers — can't seem to get enough of novels about powerful, intelligent women from past eras and how they navigated the male-dominated world in which they lived. The catalyst for this trend was Philippa Gregory's groundbreaking 2001 novel The Other Boleyn Girl (Find this book in our catalog), the bestselling Tudor drama about Anne and Mary Boleyn and their rivalry for King Henry VIII's attention. Jeanne Kalogridis's The Devil's Queen (Find this book in our catalog), written from the viewpoint of the much-maligned Catherine de'Medici, and Michelle Moran's Cleopatra's Daughter (Find this book in our catalog), which tells the little-known story of the title character after her famous mother's death, are two recent examples among many.
Thanks to corresponding trends in historical fiction cover art, we can make educated guesses about which books will provide similar reading experiences. While black-and-white photos of shadowy Victorian street scenes announce themselves as historical mysteries or thrillers; and bold images of gleaming swords, helmets and other warlike accoutrements scream "military adventure"; historical novels whose dust jackets feature women in period costume are assumed to follow the "strong women in history" trend. The groupings are unmistakable, and because novels of this type are currently so prevalent, the associations are hard to miss.
When the story is based on an actual woman's life, the jacket design may be a variant of her real-life portrait. This is the case for Susan Holloway Scott's The French Mistress, featuring Sir Peter Lely's painting of Louise de Keroualle. Alternatively, covers show contemporary models garbed in gorgeous historically-based outfits. For example, on the cover of Jeane Westin's The Virgin's Daughters, a young woman wears a green gown with a beaded, richly embroidered bodice and farthingale, representing the late Tudor era — wholly appropriate for a work about two of Queen Elizabeth I's ladies in waiting. Historical accuracy in covers isn't a given, but that's a subject for another article!
Many of these examples share another thing in common: the woman's face is either completely or partially obscured, achieved either through cropping the image at nose-line, or by showing the figure with her back turned. The Other Boleyn Girl was a trendsetter in this convention as well, In terms of her covers and her choice of subjects, Philippa Gregory's success as an author is well worth emulating. The "headless woman" look is frequently seen in contemporary fiction, too; and it has met with mixed reactions. Critics charge that it's the artistic equivalent of taking away women's identities, ironically something the novels are trying to counteract. On the other hand, it adds an aura of mystery, since readers are required to visualize what the main character might look like. Also, some readers say it lets them more easily imagine themselves in the protagonist's shoes, allowing them to vicariously experience the novel's actions and emotions along with the heroine.
Either way, these covers have proven to sell books, and publishers' marketing departments know it. Elizabeth Chadwick, a prizewinning British novelist who writes biographical fiction about the medieval English nobility, found that her sales more than quadrupled after her publisher commissioned a redesign with what she personally termed the "headless bodice" look. Headless they may be, but many of these designs are truly beautiful; and like many readers, I'm not at all immune to their effect. My bookshelves at home are full of them, many of them displayed face-out.
However, because these covers appeal so strongly to female audiences — who reportedly make up over 70% of the fiction reading public (Gabriel) — their appearance hasn't been limited to novels of the Philippa Gregory variety. Laura Joh Rowland's The Fire Kimono and The Snow Empress, historical mysteries set in 11th-century Japan, have striking, evocative covers that echo the trend, as does Lindsey Davis's Saturnalia, part of her Falco series set in ancient Rome. Even a recent translation of Tolstoy's original War and Peace has a cover that fits this category. Of course, all of these novels have important female characters, but none is told exclusively from a female perspective.
So what does a "headless woman" cover really mean about a book's content? Even with historical novels where women are the viewpoint characters, the designs cut across subgenre lines, with similar approaches taken by the covers of Terri Lynn Wilhelm's Deception (Regency romance), Joyce Lebra's The Scent of Sake (biographical fiction about a 19th-century Japanese businesswoman), DeVa Gantt's Forever Waiting (family saga set in the 1830s West Indies), and Kamila Shamsie's Burnt Shadows (literary novel about the long-term impact of Hiroshima and Nagasaki). The art for Ann Turnbull's No Shame, No Fear, an award-winning young adult novel set in Restoration England, follows the same format. All include era-appropriate backdrops and depict dark-haired women with upswept hairstyles who face away from the reader. In a sense, the covers distill the novels down to a single unifying theme—"strong, historical women". But apart from that aspect, these four books have little in common with one another. They're very different in terms of genre, writing style, and approach.
Cover art is a form of advertising, after all. It's meant to grab our attention, but in many cases it simultaneously presents us with something recognizable, offering clues about what we might be getting. The commonalities in cover design can broaden the possible audience for these books, hooking new readers who might not have picked them up otherwise and encouraging them to try a subgenre, title, or author new to them. On the other hand, they can be misleading. Historical novel fans or readers' advisors who base their "readalike" decisions on the jacket art — and many do — may end up with something quite different from what they expected."

The old adage of "don't judge a book by its cover" isn't entirely true; nor is it entirely false. What do you think? Have you ever picked up a book for the cover alone?

Notes:

Sarah Johnson. "Judging Historical Novels by Their Covers — Or Not." Readers' Advisor News, September, 2009.

SARAH L. JOHNSON is Reference Librarian at Booth Library, Eastern Illinois University, Charleston, Illinois. She is the author of Historical Fiction II: a Guide to the Genre (Libraries Unlimited, 2009) and its predecessor, Historical Fiction (Libraries Unlimited, 2005). She also serves as book review editor for the Historical Novels Review and blogs at Reading the Past.

National Reading Group Month's Great Group Reads

noreply@blogger.com (Elizabeth) — Sat, 10 Oct 2009 13:29:00 +0000

October is National Reading Group Month, sponsored by the Women's National Book Association.

Perhaps your book group would like to try one of these Great Group Reads chosen this year by the Association:
* The Secret Diaries of Charlotte Brontë by Syrie James
* The House on Fortune Street by Margot Livesey

* Perfection: A Memoir of Betrayal and Renewal by Julie Metz

* While I'm Falling by Laura Moriarty

* Out Stealing Horses by Per Petterson

* Cost by Roxana Robinson
The titles were selected for their potential to "open up lively
conversations about a host of timely and provocative topics, from the
intimate dynamics of family and personal relationships to major cultural
and world issues." Read more...

Book in the Headlines - Mrs. Astor Regrets

noreply@blogger.com (Elizabeth) — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 13:12:00 +0000

Mrs. Astor Regrets : the hidden betrayals of a family beyond reproach by Meryl Gordon Find this book in our catalog

The story in this book has just been the subject of a criminal trial. The book will be featured on All Things Considered, ABC World News and 20/20.

This is what it says in the summary in our catalog: "A riveting look behind the gates of the house of Astor as a famous family falls apart in public. The fate of Brooke Astor, the endearing philanthropist with the storied name, has generated worldwide headlines since her grandson Philip sued his father in 2006, alleging mistreatment of Brooke. And shortly after her death in 2007, Anthony Marshall, Mrs. Astor's only child, was indicted on charges of looting her estate. Rarely has there been a story with such an appealing heroine, conjuring up a world so nearly forgotten: a realm of lavish wealth and secrets of the sort that have engaged Americans from the era of Edith Wharton to the more recent days of Truman Capote and Vanity Fair. New York journalist Meryl Gordon has interviewed not only the elite of Brooke Astor's social circle but also the large staff who cosseted and cared for Mrs. Astor during her declining years. The result is the behind-the-headlines story of the Astor empire's unraveling, filled with never-before-reported scenes. This powerful, poignant saga takes the reader inside the gilded gates of an American dynasty to tell of three generations-worth of longing and missed opportunities. Even in this territory of privilege, no riches can put things right once they've been torn asunder. Here is an American epic of the bonds of money, morality, and social position."

Book About the Wild Bird Trade Wins Malott Prize for Recording Community Activism

noreply@blogger.com (Elizabeth) — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 13:30:00 +0000

The Langum Charitable Trust named Bruce Barcott, author of The Last Flight of the Scarlet Macaw: One Woman's Fight to Save the World's Most Beautiful Bird, the first winner of its biannual Gene E. & Adele R. Malott Prize for Recording Community Activism. The author receives $1,500, and $1,000 is donated to the underlying project of community activism. Find this book in our catalog

This is what it says in a review in our catalog: "Barcott (The Measure of a Mountain) relates the dramatic and heart-rending story of one woman's struggle to save the scarlet macaw in the tiny country of Belize. Sharon Matola, an eccentric American who directs the Belize Zoo, learned in 1999 that a Canadian power company planned to build a dam that would destroy the habitat of the 200 scarlet macaws remaining in Belize. Helped by native Belizeans and the Natural Resources Defense Council, Matola mounted a six-year campaign against the dam, undaunted by government officials who branded her an enemy of the state and threatened to destroy her zoo by locating a new national garbage dump next to it—a vindictive act halted only when Princess Anne of Great Britain, which gives Belize millions in aid, planned to speak out against it. But the combined forces of a determined corporation and a corrupt government were unrelenting, even after it was revealed that the power company's geological studies of the site were faulty and the dam could put human lives at stake. Barcott's compelling narrative is suspenseful right up to the last moment. Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved."

You may like these other books on animal rights and on environmental activism:
Cape Wind : money, celebrity, class, politics, and the battle for our energy future on Nantucket Sound by Wendy Williams and Robert Whitcomb.
"When Jim Gordon set out to build a wind farm on Cape Cod, he could not imagine the firestorm that would erupt. Steeped in history and local color, this is also a cautionary tale about how money can hijack democracy while America lags behind the rest of the developed world in adopting clean energy." (catalog notes)
The Ten Trusts : what we must do to care for the animals we love by Jane Goodall and Marc Bekoff.
"Jane Goodall and Marc Bekoff (biology, U. of Colorado, Boulder) have formulated a list of ten trusts, each described here with numerous examples, which, if adopted, they believe would transform humankind's relation with nature. In the process, they address many issues, including animal research, ecotourism, zoo management, wearing fur, and the importance of an attitude of activism rather than passivity. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)" (catalog notes)
The Human, the Orchid, and the Octopus : exploring and conserving our natural world by Jacques Cousteau and Susan Schiefelbein.
"Cousteau's reverence for life's miracles—embodied by the evolutionary wonders of the human, the orchid and the octopus—shines through in this eloquent testimony on the importance of pursuing higher ideals, particularly the preservation of the oceans and the natural world for future generations. (Nov.) Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved." (part of review in our catalog notes)

2009 Nobel Prize for Literature

noreply@blogger.com (Elizabeth) — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 13:15:00 +0000

The 2009 Nobel Prize in literature has been awarded to Herta Mueller, a Romanian-born German novelist, essayist and poet who was praised by the judges for depicting the "landscape of the dispossessed" with "the concentration of poetry and the frankness of prose." Read more...

HCPL does not currently own any of her work, but some of Mueller's books in translation may be borrowed through the Maryland state library resource known as "Marina." Any of your local HCPL branch librarians will be more than glad to assist you, or you may access the Marina system online from your home.

Titles in English translation include The Appointment, The Land of Green Plums, and Nadirs. (If you are searching the Marina catalog by author name, try spelling the last name with and without an "e"!)

2009 Thurber Prize for American Humor

noreply@blogger.com (Elizabeth) — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 20:49:00 +0000

Ian Frazier has won the 2009 Thurber Prize for American Humor for his book Lamentations of the Father. (Find this book in our catalog)
The frequent contributor to the New Yorker won the first Thurber prize in 1997 for his Coyote vs. Acme.

This is what it says in our catalog about Lamentations of the Father:
"When The Atlantic Monthly celebrated its 150th anniversary by publishing excerpts from the best writing ever to appear in the magazine, in the category of the humorous essay it chose only four pieces—one by Mark Twain, one by James Thurber, one by Kurt Vonnegut, and Ian Frazier’s 1997 essay “Lamentations of the Father.” The title piece of this new collection has had an ongoing life in anthologies, in radio performances, in audio recordings, on the Internet, and in photocopies held by hamburger magnets on the doors of people’s refrigerators. The august company in which The Atlantic put Frazier gives an idea of where on the literary spectrum his humorous pieces lie. Frazier’s work is funny and elegant and poetic and of the highest literary aspiration, all at the same time. More serious than a “gag” writer, funnier than most essayists of equal accomplishment, Frazier is of a classical originality. This collection, a companion to his previous humor collections, Dating Your Mom(1985) and Coyote v. Acme(1996), contains thirty-three pieces gathered from the last thirteen years."

Runners-up for the Thurber Prize this year were:
* Sloane Crosley for I Was Told There'd Be Cake.
* Don Lee for Wrack and Ruin.
* Laurie Notaro for The Idiot Girl and the Flaming Tantrum of Death:
Reflections on Revenge, Germaphobia, and Laser Hair Removal.

More surprise hits you may have missed

noreply@blogger.com (Elizabeth) — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 19:46:00 +0000

The Outlander : a novel / Gil Adamson "Set in 1903, Adamson's compelling debut tells the wintry tale of 19-year-old Mary Boulton ([w]idowed by her own hand) and her frantic odyssey across Idaho and Montana. The details of Boulton's sad past—an unhappy marriage, a dead child, crippling depression—slowly emerge as she reluctantly ventures into the mountains, struggling to put distance between herself and her two vicious brothers-in-law, who track her like prey in retaliation for her killing of their kin. Boulton's journey and ultimate liberation—made all the more captivating by the delirium that runs in the recesses of her mind—speaks to the resilience of the female spirit in the early part of the last century. Lean prose, full-bodied characterization, memorable settings and scenes of hardship all lift this book above the pack." (from the PW review in our catalog)
Tears in the Darkness : the story of the Bataan Death March and its aftermath / Michael Norman and Elizabeth M. Norman This major new work about World War II exposes the myths of military heroism as shallow and inadequate. "Tears in the Darkness" makes clear, with great literary and human power, that war causes suffering for people on all sides. (catalog notes)
Wicked Plants : the weed that killed Lincoln's mother & other botanical atrocities / Amy Stewart A tree that sheds poison daggers; a glistening red seed that stops the heart; a shrub that causes paralysis; a vine that strangles; and a leaf that triggered a war. In "Wicked Plants," Stewart takes on over two hundred of Mother Nature's most appalling creations. It's an A to Z of plants that kill, maim, intoxicate, and otherwise offend. You'll learn which plants to avoid (like exploding shrubs), which plants make themselves exceedingly unwelcome (like the vine that ate the South), and which ones have been killing for centuries (like the weed that killed Abraham Lincoln's mother). Menacing botanical illustrations and splendidly ghastly drawings create a fascinating portrait of the evildoers that may be lurking in your own backyard. (catalog notes)

The Thing Around Your Neck byChimamanda Ngozi Adichie

noreply@blogger.com (D. L. S.) — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 14:45:00 +0000

The Thing Around Your Neck by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

Author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie grew up in Nigeria, and the land of her birth informs her short stories, whether the setting of the tale is Africa or the United States. Plaintive and poignant, they focus on characters and events that seem at once universal and foreign. A wife tries to come to terms with her husband’s infidelity, but while she is living in America, he is maintaining two households, one in Philadelphia with our protagonist and another in Lagos with his girlfriend. A woman thinks back on a dreadful experience in her childhood, one that resulted in the death of her older brother and realizes the ongoing impact of her actions down to the present day. A mother mourns the loss of her son, but her four-year-old was killed by government henchmen, and now she must decide whether to seek asylum in America or stay near the grave of her dear child. The stories show the reader the dilemma of the person who is at once living in one world but still attached to another one, a stranger in both lands, always seeking balance and peace but finding those gifts almost always out of reach.

D. L. S.

Surpise hits you may have missed

noreply@blogger.com (Elizabeth) — Sun, 04 Oct 2009 18:28:00 +0000

I was interested to see an article in Publishers Weekly of September 7, 2009 about summer midlist titles whose sales suddenly far exceeded expectations. The article analysed why each book stands out and what media trigger caused each book to draw ahead of the mid-list pack in sales. All of these are remarkable books, but none of them drew six- or seven-figure advances or were considered "big books", so it's possible you missed them. Why not check one or two of them out of the Harford County Public Library now? Then let me know why you think they stand out!

The Girls from Ames : a story of women and a forty-year friendship / Jeffrey Zaslow Find this book in our catalog

From the co-author of the bestselling "The Last Lecture" comes a moving tribute to female friendships, with the inspiring story of 11 girls and the women they became. (catalog notes)

All We Ever Wanted Was Everything : a novel / Janelle Brown Find this book in our catalog

In Brown's withering Silicon Valley satire, a family wakes up on a June day to realize that patriarch Paul's company has hit the big time with a phenomenal IPO. But instead of rejoicing about being newly rich, the family's three women each find themselves in the throes of a major crisis. (catalog notes)

The Girl Who Stopped Swimming / Joshilyn Jackson Find this book in our catalog

While Laurel's life seems neatly on track... everything she holds dear is suddenly thrown into question the night she is visited by the ghost of a her 13-year old neighbor Molly Dufresne. The ghost leads Laurel to the real Molly floating lifelessly in the Hawthorne's backyard pool. Molly's death is inexplicable--an unseemly mystery Laurel knows no one in her whitewashed neighborhood is up to solving. Only her wayward, unpredictable sister is right for the task, but calling in a favor from Thalia is like walking straight into a frying pan protected only by Crisco. Enlisting Thalia's help, Laurel sets out on a life-altering journey that triggers startling revelations about her family's guarded past, the true state of her marriage, and the girl who stopped swimming. (publisher's notes in our catalog)

Shop Class as Soulcraft : an inquiry into the value of work / Matthew B. Crawford Find this book in our catalog

In this wise and often funny book, a philosopher/mechanic systematically destroys the pretensions of the high-prestige workplace and makes an irresistible case for working with one's hands. (catalog notes)

A Bad Day for Sorry: a crime novel by Sophie Littlefield

noreply@blogger.com (Elizabeth) — Sat, 03 Oct 2009 16:01:00 +0000

A Bad Day for Sorry by Sophie Littlefield Find this book in our catalog

Stella Hardesty lives in rural Missouri, has issues with her chunky, fifty-something figure and an unusual attitude to life. Having married young, and given birth to a delightful daughter, she spent years pretending that her husband did not verbally abuse her in public and regularly physically abuse her at home, blacking her eyes and bruising her ribs but never actually sending her to the emergency room. Then, just shy of her fiftieth birthday, she surprised herself by dispatching her abuser with a wrench.

The community turned a blind eye, and now Stella has a fearsome reputation, not only as an unrepentant murderess but as an inexorable avenger of abused women throughout Missouri - even as far as Branson. Stella runs a side business helping battered women who come to her and pay her what they can. She barely has time to run the sewing machine repair and quilting notions shop she inherited from her deceased husband. She works outside the law persuading errant husbands and boyfriends to change their behaviour with a little old-fashioned intimidation and torture. When Chrissy Shaw asks Stella for help, it seems like a straightforward case: Chrissy's husband, Roy Dean disappears with her two-year-old son and Stella is asked to find and recover the boy.

However, Stella is soon confirmed in her suspicions that things are not as straightforward as they seem. Roy Dean has already had to be corrected once for abusing the ditsy and passive Chrissy, and once again for his overbearing treatment of his new girlfriend, with whom he was seen at the drag strip. It looks like he is a thoroughly despicable shred of humanity and may well have kidnapped Chrissy's child for reasons more dire than simply gaining custody in a marital split. Will Stella be able to prevail against the Kansas City mobsters with whom Roy Dean is involved in some way? And will Chrissy be able to pull herself together enough to help her?

This book seemed to me to be a good one to recommend to fans of Janet Evanovich, particularly if they enjoy her dark humor. For both authors evil is just as banal and yet rears its head everywhere. Their characters are captivating, complex and very flawed and are struggling to make a living in some of the seemier parts of city or country. The humor comes from the characters and their distressingly human frailties. To me, the Janet Evanovich novels have become more violent over the years. A Bad Day for Sorry is also violent. The characters also don't seem to have any compunction in using bad language, often as a form of aggression. Still, we admire Stephanie Plum as we admire Stella: each is vulnerable in some way and yet each faces challenges that no one should be forced to face.

If you like the rural backwater setting of A Bad Day for Sorry, you might like the Maggody mystery series by Joan Hess featuring female Arkansas sheriff, Arly Hanks. This series has a conflicted but ultimately strong female lead, downhome, sometimes comic characters and darkish humor.

If you like the revenge element, partnered again with definitely dark humor, you might like the Dexter series by Jeff Lindsay, now made into a TV series.