Best Reads of 2012 (19th in a series)

Now You See Me by S.J. Bolton
Please allow me to begin this post with a disclaimer.  I have read very few mysteries, so it is difficult for me to compare this work to others in the mystery genre.  However, I do believe that the term “page-turner” certainly applies to Now You See Me. 

Now You See Me focuses on a series of particularly brutal murders in London.  As the detectives soon discover, these modern-day murders share many characteristics with the murders committed by Jack the Ripper.  As a reader uninitiated to the theories surrounding the Jack the Ripper murders, I found the fictionalized history lesson to be fascinating.  The story is told primarily through first-person narration by the main character, Lacey Flint.  Lacey is a young detective constable.  Her involvement in the case begins with the first line of the novel: “A dead woman was leaning against my car.”  At first it seems to be a coincidence that a detective discovered the body, but then there seem to be too many coincidences as the investigation continues and subsequent murders occur.  The most disquieting aspect of this novel is not the murders; rather, it is the growing sense that perhaps Lacey is telling us only what she wants us to know.  The reader must depend on Lacey’s version of events, all the while suspecting that Lacey may not be sharing all that she knows.  To add to the intrigue, Lacey’s narrative is occasionally broken by third-person flashbacks to traumatic events that occurred 11 years prior to the murders.  The reader is left to puzzle over how these events relate to the main narrative.

Anna Lyle
Assistant Director for Support Services

Best Reads of 2012 (18th in a series)

Here’s a sampling of what I’ve read this year.  It is not a list for everyone.  I enjoy non-fiction primarily and learning about different cultures and topics around the world.  

Gypsy Boy: My Life in the Secret World of the Romany Gypsies by Mikey Walsh

Coming of age story about a boy growing up in the Romany gypsy culture in England.  If you’ve watched any of the recent reality series on gypsies, you may know it tends to be a rather male oriented society.  The story includes a twist as Mikey discovers he is gay and not well accepted among his own.  I must warn you there is a bit of violence throughout.

Interventions: A Life in War and Peace  by Kofi Annan

An interesting biography of the seventh Secretary-General of the United Nations, serving from 1997 through 2006.  It provides glimpses into his background and how he moved up within the United Nations.  Born in Ghana, he was the first from sub-Saharan African to serve as Secretary General.  During his tenure, he received the Nobel Peace Prize in 2001 along with the UN for their role in pursuing peace around the world.  He helped establish the Peacebuilding Commission and the Human Rights Council, and promoted the universal fight against AIDS, TB, and malaria.  One of his greatest achievements was the acceptance of the “responsibility to protect” by member states to prevent genocide and other crimes against humanity.  Through many conflicts across numerous countries and governments, Kofi Annan was able to keep human rights and the role of peacekeeping central to the UN’s mission.

No Time to Lose: A Life in Pursuit of Deadly Viruses by Peter Piot

If you have ever read The Hot Zone or The Lost City of Z you will find some parallels early in the book.  However, despite his adventures trying to contain and combat an early outbreak of Ebola, the author spends more time on how his career proceeded from an infectious disease specialist to an advocate for AIDS at the World Health Organization (WHO) and United Nations (UN).  Due to differences in cultures around the world, he understood that this disease was spreading quickly and in many different ways across the world, needing different means to stop it.  There is an exploration of world politics and what it takes to get the attention of the world to focus on the health issues that can affect us all.

The Wandering Gene and the Indian Princess: Race, Religion, and DNA by Jeff Wheelwright

If you’ve ever wondered about your own family history, or tried to figure out where your curly hair came from, this book may interest you.  It is the story of a family from Colorado and New Mexico who believed themselves to be Native American and Spanish Catholic.  After one daughter developed breast cancer, it was discovered she carried a very specific gene that is tied to the disease.  However, the specific gene, BRCA1, is usually characteristic of Ashkenazi Jews from Europe.  Spoiler alert – it turns out her family had like many others converted to Catholicism to save themselves during the days of the Inquisition and later traveled to America.  If DNA research intrigues you, you may just want to go get a DNA test to see what secrets may be in your lineage.

Mortality by Christopher Hitchens

This is the final work of Christopher Hitchens that appeared in a series in Vanity Fair magazine.  It is a journal of sorts of how he felt from the time of his diagnosis with esophageal cancer to just before his death in December 2011.  Any fan of his will find this a perfect example of his writing style, and he handles it with his usual wit and dark humor.

Joan Dudzinski
Information Specialist

Best Reads of 2012 (17th in a series)

Favorite books I’ve read this year!

The Shoemaker’s Wife by Adriana Trigiani
 

Coming Up for Air by Patti Callahan Henry
 

Cook Like a Rock Star: 125 Recipes, Lessons, and Culinary Secrets by Anne Burrell
 

A Dog’s Life: The Autobiography of a Stray by Ann M. Martin (Juvenile)

The Boy on Cinnamon Street by Phoebe Stone (Juvenile)





Teresa E. Santangelo
Information Specialist

Best Reads of 2012 (16th in a series)

11/22/63 by Stephen King

The Night Strangers by Chris Bohjalian 

A Grown-up Kind of Pretty by Joshilyn Jackson

The Age of Miracles by Karen Thompson Walker

Defending Jacob by William Landay

A Land More Kind Than Home by Wiley Cash

You Don’t Want to Know by Lisa Jackson

Spring Fever by Mary Kay Andrews

The Flight of Gemma Hardy by Margot Livesey

The Starboard Sea by Amber Dermont

Where’d You Go, Bernadette  by Maria Semple






Beth Moore
Information Specialist

Best Reads of 2012 (15th in a series)

Although it was difficult for me to narrow my choices, I would say that my favorite books that I read this year were:

A Long and Happy Life by Reynolds Price

A Land More Kind Than Home by Wiley Cash

The Art of Fielding by Chad Harbach

The Violent Bear it Away by Flannery O’Connor







Lea Keller
Information Specialist

Best Reads pf 2012 (14th in a series)

Two books that I enjoyed reading this year:

The Shoemaker’s Wife by Adriana Trigiani

Lone Wolf by Jodi Picolt

Mary Ann Kowaleski
Information Specialist

Best Reads of 2012 (13th in a series)

Bittersweet and Unforgettable

I’m a big fan of short stories but am rarely asked to recommend them specifically.  For busy readers or anyone interested in venturing into literary fiction, a book of short stories or one of the super short novels below offers major payoff with minor commitment.  (Fair warning: while not particularly graphic, they are written for adults and contain some adult language and themes.  Happy endings are not guaranteed.)
 
With that being said, it’s hard to imagine a story written entirely in dictionary form could be as evocative as The Lover’s Dictionary by David Levithan.  Non-named characters meet, fall in love, and face the consequences in this exceptionally well-crafted story, told in alphabetical entries along the lines of:
               
Disarray, n
At times, I feel like I’m living with a ninety-year old, finding a box of crackers
in the laundry hamper, or a pair of socks by the vodka.  Sometimes I tell you where I found things, and we joke about it.  Other times, I just put them back. 

Not all the definitions are so kind.  Entries in The Lover’s Dictionary also include:  beware, buffoonery, cajole, cavort, clandestine, corrode, covet, deadlock, dumbfounded, and a few you may find yourself looking up in order to appreciate.   

The subject of Stewart O’Nan’s The Odds is a vastly different sort of couple.  Easily read in a single setting, The Odds lets grim statistics highlight the challenges a husband faces as he tries to rekindle a marriage long grown distant.

Tensions run high on Art and Marion’s Valentine's Day weekend in Niagara Falls.  Thirty years after their honeymoon, they’re facing foreclosure, considering divorce, and gambling the last of their savings at the casinos in the hope of turning their luck around.  Unfortunately, the deck seems to be stacked against them.
                               
Odds of a married couple reaching their 25th anniversary:  1 in 6 
 

Don’t let the title fool you!  Amanda Eyre Ward’s Love Stories in This Town is a realistic take on modern relationships with characters that spring to life.  Published in 2009, these twelve stories reveal lives derailed by 9-11, miscarriage, parental abandonment, and a slew of other complications. 

Wry advice from a Butte Montana bartender gives the collection its name.  “There are no love stories in this town,” the sage tells Lola Wilkerson in "Miss Montana’s Wedding Day." 
Lucky for Lola, she doesn’t remain in Butte but journeys to a Las Vegas wedding chapel, an Austin country club, the tiny former mining town of Ouray, Colorado, and even a high security compound in Saudi Arabia.  In each new setting, Lola discovers a little of the world and a lot of herself.  Lola’s chronicles are the last six stories in the collection and read like a very well-paced novel. 

Even if your time to read is limited, there’s no reason you can’t enjoy an unforgettable book!

Alicia Cavitt
Information Specialist

Best Reads of 2012 (12th in a series)

Here are a few of my favorite books read this year.

Animal, Vegetable, Miracle:  A Year of Food Life by Barbara Kingsolver

Imagine spending a year growing your own food and buying everything else you eat locally grown.  That is exactly what Barbara Kingsolver and her family did!  This book provides a way to break free from industrial agriculture and more.

Wheat Belly:  Lose the Wheat, Lose the Weight by William Davis

A renowned cardiologist explains how eliminating wheat from our diets can prevent fat storage, shrink unsightly bulges, and reverse myriad health problems.

Where We Belong by Emily Giffin

Her carefully constructed life thrown into turmoil by the appearance of an eighteen-year-old girl with ties to her past, New York television producer Marian Caldwell is swept up in a maelstrom of personal discovery that changes both of their perceptions about family.

Julia’s Child by Sarah Pinneo

Julia Bailey is a mompreneur with too many principles and too little time. Her fledgling company, Julia's Child, makes organic toddler meals. But turning a profit while saving the world proves tricky as Julia must face a 92-pound TV diva, an ill-timed protest rally, and a room full of mom’s with screaming toddlers.

A Grown-up Kind of Pretty by Joshilyn Jackson

A saga of three generations of women, plagued by hardships and torn by a devastating secret, yet inextricably joined by the bonds of family. Fifteen-year-old Mosey Slocumb--spirited, sassy, and on the cusp of womanhood--is shaken when a small grave is unearthed in the backyard, and determined to figure out why it's there. Liza, her stroke-ravaged mother, is haunted by choices she made as a teenager. But it is Jenny, Mosey's strong and big-hearted grandmother, whose maternal love braids together the strands of the women's shared past--and who will stop at nothing to defend their future.

Those Across the River by Christopher Buehlman

Moving to rural Georgia, a failed academic plans to write a history of his family's old plantation and the horrors that occurred there but instead discovers a sense of unspoken dread among the townspeople and a long-standing debt of blood.



Mendy Gunter
Branch Manager

Best Reads of 2012 (11th in a series)

Dip into FCPL’s new Adult Graphic Novel collection with a few of my favorites from the past year.  I chose all graphic novels, because busy dads barely have time for pleasure reading!  Be warned, however, that these comic books are definitely for adults.

Scalped, Vol. 1: Indian Country

FBI agent Dashiell Bad Horse returns to the Prairie Rose Indian Reservation to take down notorious casino operator Chief Red Horse.  What follows is a descent into madness and murder that threatens the one thing both men care about most: the future of the reservation.  Jason Aaron’s bleak crime drama balances gritty violence with surprisingly nuanced characters in the tradition of The Sopranos.

Locke and Key, Vol. 1: Welcome to Lovecraft

After their father’s murder, Tyler, Kinsey, and Bode Locke relocate to Keyhouse, the family estate in Massachusetts.  But this old house holds dark secrets for the Locke family, including a set of mysterious keys that opens more than just doors.  Joe Hill’s multi-generational horror story is a sinister delight, perfect for fans of the author’s famous father, Stephen King.

Batman, Incorporated

Batman goes corporate when Bruce Wayne turns the caped crusader into an international franchise.  Batmen and Batwomen from around the world join forces to stop the international crime syndicate known only as Leviathan, whose dastardly deeds are the final plot of a super villain succumbing to Alzheimer’s disease.  Grant Morrison’s Batman, Inc. is by far the freshest and most fascinating take on Batman since Frank Miller’s Batman: The Dark Knight Returns.

Ross Gericke
Information Services Supervisor

Best Reads of 2012 (10th in a series)

Jana Bibi’s Excellent Fortunes by Betsy Woodman

Set in a fictional town in 1960’s India, this is a sweet and charming tale with Jana Bibi at its center.  Jana is of Scottish heritage but was born in India and prefers to live there as well.  When she inherits a house from her grandfather in the quite hilly town of Hamara Nagar, she quickly moves in with her parrot, Mr. Ganguly, and her maid and companion, Mary.  When she learns that a proposed dam is going to drown the town, she joins the locals in rescuing it.  She opens a fortune-telling business to promote the town as an exciting and enjoyable tourist destination.  The characters involved are very colorful, from the very religious Muslim, Feroz, to the owner of the antique shop, Ramachandram.  This story illustrates the uniqueness and tolerance of India’s cultural framework while in an exotic setting.

Shamsha Karim
Information Specialist

Best Reads of 2012 (9th in a series)

My Favorite Books of 2012:

My Mother Was Nuts by Penny Marshall

A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness

Let’s Pretend This Never Happened by Jenny Lawson

Some Assembly Required by Ann Lamott

Why My Third Husband Will Be a Dog by Lisa Scottoline

A Grown-up Kind of Pretty by Joshilyn Jackson

A Natural Woman: A Memoir by Carole King

Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? by Mindy Kaling

                        Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail by Cheryl Strayed

Diary of a Mad Fat Girl by Stephanie McAfee

Knucklehead by Jon Scieszka (Juvenile)

Little Dog Lost by Monica Carnesi (Easy)

Virginia Mccurry

Youth Services Supervisor

Best Reads of 2012 (8th in a series)

This year, I got reacquainted with one of my favorite genres of books….children’s picture books.  What I enjoy and appreciate the most about this type of book is the varied and intriguing types of art used in the illustrations.  The Association for Library Service to Children, a division of the American Library Association, honors illustrators of picture books with an award every year called the Caldecott Award.  Here are a few of my favorites.
     

Flotsam, the 2007 award winner by David Weisner, is a wordless book that tells the story of a boy who discovers an underwater camera and quickly develops the pictures from the camera. The story unfolds as we discover what the camera has captured of life under the sea.  The illustrations are made up of beautiful watercolor illustrations of magical underwater scenes of sea creatures.

     

The House in the Night, illustrated by Beth Krommes and written by Susan Marie Swanson, is the 2009 medal winner.  This book was inspired by an old English nursery rhyme.  The technique that the illustrator used in this picture book is called scratchboard art.  With this technique, the drawing surface starts completely black.  The drawing is made by scratching white lines through the ink with a sharp tool.  The more lines that are drawn, the brighter the picture becomes.  Color like the yellow in this book is then added with watercolor paints.
    

The Invention of Hugo Cabret is a 550 page novel in words and pictures.  It was awarded the Caldecott in 2008.  The author, Brian Selznick, describes his book as a combination of a novel, picture book, graphic novel, flip book, and movie.  The unique, beautiful, detailed illustrations were all done in pencil sketches.

Picture books are more than just children’s stories; many contain beautiful works of art, and can be enjoyed and appreciated by people of all ages.  Be sure to check out the rest of the Caldecott Award winning books, and next time you’re looking for a good book, don’t forget to visit the Children’s section.

LeAnne Craig
Youth Services Information Specialist