Love in a Nutshell

Janet Evanovich joined author Dorien Kelly to co-write a funny and romantic comedy entitled Love in a Nutshell.  The story begins when Kate Appleton arrives in Keene's Harbor, MI, to reclaim her family’s summer lake house and transform it into a modern bed-and-breakfast business. Kate loves the old family home and takes refuge there after a double whammy--her marriage ends in divorce and she’s fired from her job as magazine editor.

Shortly after she arrives in Keene’s Harbor, it becomes apparent that she must find a job if she is going to keep a roof over her head and update her home to create her bed-and-breakfast. Broke, Kate needs a job. She finally hears about one at the microbrewery. Owner Matt Culhane, who suspects an employee is sabotaging his brewery, hires Kate as a spy to infiltrate his employees and find the culprit.  She also wants to earn the special “finder’s” bonus of $20,000 to renovate her house.

But several problems present themselves. Kate despises beer. No one seems to trust her. And she is falling hard for her boss. Can these two find the saboteur, save Kate's family home, and keep a killer from closing in? And resist their growing attraction to one another?

Evanovich and Kelly worked well together to create a book filled with humor and appealing characters.  Love in a Nutshell is delicious fun to read or listen to.

The Sandcastle Girls

“How do 1.5 million people die and no one hears about it?”  This is the question that puzzles Laura Petrosian, the modern day character in Chris Bohjalian’s book The Sandcastle Girls.  Inspired by his grandparent’s background, Bohjalian tackles the Armenian genocide that occurred as the Ottoman Empire crumbles at the start of World War I. 

This fascinating tale travels between Bronxville, New York in 2012 to Aleppo, Syria in 1915.  In this novel, a fictional American woman missionary, Elizabeth, comes to the aid of the people and falls in love with an Armenian man, Armen, whose family was part of the death marches out of Turkey into Syria.   Years later, her American granddaughter, Laura Petrosian, researches her family history and crafts a moving story which is a tribute to all those who have died. 

Elizabeth comes to Aleppo and joins in with her father in serving the people that are arriving there.  She stays pretty much confined to the American compound but does venture out to help in the hospital and in the orphanage.  The Armenians that arrive are just about dead on their feet.  The people are malnourished and in need of clothing.  In the city the orphanage for children is overrun by the stronger who prey on the weaker.  Officials say that they are going to help.  Robberies are commonplace.  No one can be trusted. 

In this situation, Elizabeth comes of age.  She falls in love with Armen, an Armenian engineer.  She puts herself into primitive conditions in the hospital and orphanage.  Her maternal instincts come out as she has one Armenian woman and one Armenian child stay with her in the American compound. 

Bohjalian brings forth a world that may seem daunting.  There is violence and struggles but the authors brings forth hope and goodness and the idea that love prevails in the telling of this amazing story.  Even when tragedy strikes there is always that hope that love will come again.  That is the beauty of the story.  Bohjalian tells this rich story with a sensitivity that respects the Armenian experieince.  Thus, I highly recommend  this novel, not necessary as a summer beach read but as a great read to better understand this topic.

A.B.--Technical Services

The Witness by Nora Roberts

The inside front flap and its accounting of the events first drew me to this Nora Roberts’ book.  In The Witness, Ms. Roberts begins the story of Elizabeth, a 16-year old young woman, who has excelled

academically, but is behind in interpersonal skills for teenagers.  Following a string of defiant acts, Elizabeth witnesses a double murder.  Murders that involve illicit activity and the Russian mafia. She runs to

the police who get her into the federal witness protection program.  As her eye-witness story proves unbreakable, the safe house is compromised. Two more murders at the hands of the Russian mafia and Elizabeth runs again.  This time she runs for her life; this time she disappears and goes into

hiding.

Her hiding lasts for twelve years and undergoes numerous moves and identity changes. Just as she finds a place where she feels safe and loved, Abigail (aka Elizabeth) must make the BIG decision: does she come

out of hiding to aid the FBI in prosecuting this mafia group, does she continue her latest, new life and bring her new loved ones into danger, or does she run yet another time?

The novel was compelling and difficult to put down.  Ms. Roberts drew me into the story.  At times, I felt that I was there experiencing exactly what Elizabeth/Abigail was going through.

VM – Reference Desk

Clara and Mr. Tiffany

I was attracted to this novel because I am attracted to stained glass.  What surprised me was that the parts of the novel that take place outside the Tiffany studio were often my favorite.  In Clara nd Mr. Tiffany, author Susan Vreeland explores the relationship between previously little known designer Clara Driscoll and Louis Tiffany.  Under his employ, she designed most of the famous lamps commonly attributed to him.  While not at work, Clara spends her time with an eclectric group of creative individuals who live in the same bording house.  The events of the novel take place early in the twentieth century, enableing this group witnesses changing gender roles, the birth of sky scraper, bicycles, the first subway line and changing social expectations.

A Mountain of Crumbs

When the children were hungry during the Russian Revolution, Elena Gorokhova's grandmother would break their bread into a mountina of crumbs to make a little seem like plenty.  In preschool Gorokhova learned about vranyo, a mutual understanding that everyone is pretending.  Vranyo seems to be the glue that holds her whole world together.

A Mountain of Crumbs is Gorokhova's memoir of growing up in the Leningrad during the cold war.  Beautifully written, this book takes us through familiar coming of age territory but is a setting where none of the stuff of childhood and adolesence (shoes, toys, bluejeans or books) is taken for granted. 

A Mountain of Crumbs is the Fall 2012 One Book One Community Read selection for Marquette. 

A Smile as Big as the Moon

A Smile as Big as the Moon is the first person account of high school special education teacher Mike Kersjes's amazing journey with his students from an isolated classroom in Grand Rapids to Space Camp at the U.S. Space & Rocket Center in Huntsville, Alabama.
The strength of this book is the story, not the style.  Kersjes idea, that his class of special needs kids would benefit from participating in Space Camp with the brightest and most advantaged kids in the country, was not supported by his school principal or even the special education superintendent.  But he persisted and proved that given a chance, these kids could be successful. 
The events in this book took place in 1988-1989.  The book was orignally published in 2002.  It came to my attention about a couple of weeks ago when a patron told me about the Hallmark Hall of Fame movie based on this story.   I wanted to read the book first so I would know which parts of the movie were true.  As it turns out, the movie is mostly true to the book.  One of the neatest things about the movie is the casting of the kids in Kersjes's class.  Many actually had the same challenges as the characters they were portraying. 

E.M. -- Reference Desk

Best of 2011

(The following Best of 2011 list was orginally published in the Marquette Mining Journal.)

Goodbye 2011, hello 2012! The New Year is already upon us, so this is an excellent time to look back at the best new books I have personally read in the last year. Working at the Peter White Public Library provides a great opportunity to see all the new and interesting books that come in, and I’m always on the lookout for something good to read. Here is my Top 5 from 2011, and just for fun let’s make it a countdown.

5. Mission of Honor by David Weber – This is the twelfth book in the acclaimed military science fiction series, and it may have been the best one yet. For those who don’t know, The Honor Harrington series is basically Horatio Hornblower in space. If you are looking for a new series to read for 2012, you may want to take a look at this series. It should appeal to all military and science fiction fans.

4. The Quants: How a New Breed of Math Whizzes Conquered Wall Street and Nearly Destroyed It by Scott Patterson – This book provides an incredible inside look at the enigmatic world of the top hedge fund managers on Wall Street.  This is certainly one of the more interesting books of 2011, and if you have ever seen a Wall Street executive on C-SPAN being grilled in front of Congress and wondered how he got where he is today, The Quants is the book for you.

3. Life Itself by Roger Ebert – Ebert is one of the greatest newspaper writers of all time, not just one of the greatest film critics. This memoir tells his entire story, from when he was a small boy growing up in Urbana, Illinois all the way to his much publicized fight with thyroid cancer and beyond.  Ebert also writes about his favorite actors and directors and his decades long battle with alcoholism.

2. Those Guys Have All The Fun: Inside the World of ESPN  by James Andrew Miller and Tom Shales – If you are like me and have been watching ESPN for years then this is a must read. Did you know that ESPN stand for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network? Were you aware of the rampant allegations of sexual harassment in the early days of the company? There are a lot of things you would never have guessed about one of the most successful cable companies of all time, and if you want to know more then you need to definitely give this a try.

1. Ready Player One by Ernest Cline – When I pulled this book out of the bin one Saturday morning did I know this would be the best book I would read all year? No, but after reading the inside cover I knew it would be one of the most interesting. The story takes place in the year 2044, and the real world is falling apart, so everyone is logged into a virtual reality network called OASIS which has supplanted reality in every aspect. People go to school, have jobs and spend the majority of their lives on OASIS. When the billionaire creator dies and leaves his fortune to one lucky individual who can solve an in-game quest, it sparks a worldwide hunt that has real world implications. This book will appeal to any science fiction fan, or anyone interested in the future. It is jammed full of sci-fi and 80’s references. If you read this you will not be disappointed.

B. S. – Circulation Department

Something different

I thought I'd share a neat story forwarded to me by a cousin in Georgia about some libraries in Scotland.  I think this story gets at part of why we love to read:  to expand our world and to connect with other minds. 

This blog from Scotland traces the mysterious appearance of ten paper sculptures in libraries and museums in Edinburgh.

E.M.--Reference Desk

That used to be us : how America fell behind in the world it invented and how we can come back

In That Used to Be Us, Thomas L. Friedman and Michael Mandelbaum speak out and say the things Americans need to hear.  They identify four challenges --globalization, the revolution in information technology, the nation's chronic deficits, and our pattern of excessive energy consumption--and spell out what needs to done to sustain America's position as a world leader. Although I don’t agree with every point they make, I admire their candor.  The points they make about education are especially on-target. 

DM—Reference Desk

Possession

A.S. Byatt's Booker Prize winning novel is one of my favorites.  I sometimes hesitate to recommend it as it might be a bit too "English Major" for some as the characters are for the most part Victorian poets or contemporary scholars.  People like me love all the literary references.  When I read this book aloud to my husband on a long car trip, it was wonderful characters--some pure of heart, others villanous--and the deft story telling that won him over.  The research of the scholars becomes like great detective work, the clever unfolding of the plot will make any reader want to stay up late turning pages. 

EM--Reference desk

Global Girlfriends: How one mom made it her business to help women in poverty worldwide

This book tells the story of Stacey Edgar, a Colorado mom, who invested her $2,000 income tax refund to begin a program that would help poor women around the world.  She founded Global Girlfriends to help create a fair trade market that would specialize in handmade clothing, jewelry, baskets and other items.  As you read this book, you can follow the steps of growth of the project and meet some of the women in distant places in Africa, Asia and South America.  Her organization is now affiliated with Greater Good (another fair trade group) and the Whole Foods markets.  Her products are also available through the website http://www.globalgirlfriend.com/  The book includes links to other groups that are helping women worldwide. If you are interested in fair trade products, I would urge you to explore this book and website.

--Marquette Township Patron 

The Sandalwood Tree

The Sandalwood Tree by Elle Newmark tells two stories that take place in the same bungalow in India, almost 100 years apart.  The more contemporary story takes place just as the British are preparing to leave, and the other takes place during an uprising that took place in 1857.  The 1947 story revolves around an American couple that has travel on one of the first Fullbright fellowships.  The historian husband is emotionally wounded from World War II, and his wife is struggling to keep their marriage together.  The Victorian occupants, two young women, are struggling to dodge their parent's plans to marry them off.  The stories are skillfully entertwined and engaging.  Fans of historical fiction and novels about the meetings of different cultures will enjoy this novel.

--EM Reference Desk

The Lazarus Project

Billiantly written and set in both 1908 Chicago and contemporary Chicago and Bosnia-Herzegovina, Aleksandar Hemon's book The Lazarus Project links the murder of Lazarus Averbuch, an Eastern European immigrant, by Chicago's Chief of Police in 1908, with a contemporary fictional trip to Eastern Europe. The trip's purpose is to trace Lazarus's early life and journey to America but it also provides the narrator, a recent immigrant from Bosnia, a chance to visit his homeland which has been destroyed by the recent war. Hemon builds an awesome parallel structure between the two stories filled with irony and dark humor. He links attitudes and actions of his characters and history to current American attitudes and biases.  It's a very complex book and can be frustrating--not every question finds an answer-- but it is a very impressive work of literature.

Cathy Sullivan Seblonka, Youth services

South of Superior

I just finished reading South of Superior this weekend and now I miss it.  If you haven't already heard, it is the first novel from Ellen Airgood who runs the West Bay Diner with her husband in Grand Marais.  Not only is this story set in the U.P., it's the kind of story that is likely to have wide appeal.  I'm already creating a list of friends and relatives who live in far away places to whom I could give a copy for Christmas. 

The story revolves around two elderly sisters who have lived their entire lives in a small U.P. community, quite similar to Grand Marais.  One sister has had some serious health complications so the sisters have hired a younger, thirty-something woman from Chicago as a live-in caretaker.  This third woman has family ties to the area but has never before been to the U.P.  Though the novel stays closest to this younger woman's point of view, it is in many ways as much a story of the entire community as it is about her. 

One of the strengths is the sense of balance in this book.  The characters are all flawed, all make grievous mistakes.  Almost all have something likeable about them as well.  The pacing of events is just right.  The descriptions-- beautifully written.  The balance of story and character and setting--dead-on.

EM - Reference desk

Three multicultural titles

If you are interested in multicultural books, I would recommend the following books:

Little Princes: One man's promise to bring home the lost children of Nepal by Conor Grennan  

A young American begins by volunteering in an orphanage and returns to reunite Nepalese children with their families after long separations due to war and child-trafficking.

I Shall Not Hate by Izzeldin Abuelaish

This is a memoir of a Palestinian doctor whose three daughters were killed by the Israeli shelling of Gaza.  He is working for peace and reconciliation by encouraging dialog between all the people of the area.  It is his hope that the deaths of his daughters will be the "last sacrifice on the road to peace between Palestinians and Israelis."

The Sweetness of Tears by Nafisa Haji

This fictional account of a young American woman who discovers her roots in Pakistan covers a wide range of geography and history reaching from present day Iraq and Pakistan back to returning veterans of the Vietnam War.  Her family history helps us to learn about Muslim traditions and how family members can come together and heal.

Marquette Township Patron

Could it be B12? : an epidemic of misdiagnoses by Sally M. Pacholok

When loved ones get ill and questions arise as to what is wrong, sometimes the library is a good place to find answers. A new PWPL book did just that for me recently; it answered questions. Large doses of B-12 were given to my father after a recent fall and mild concussion because a B-12 deficiency was discovered during the array of tests. As I read this book, I saw many of his symptoms come alive right before my eyes. As I got deeper into the book, more of his symptoms showed up. I wouldn’t use a library book to diagnose myself, but after reading this book, I’m glad they have my dad on doses of B-12 and wish they were still giving him the mega-doses.

vjm, Reference Desk Staff

Knowing your value : women, money, and getting what you're worth by Mika Brzezinski

As fans of MSNBC’s Morning Jo already know, Mika Brzezinski has a knack for keeping a balance to any political argument.  In knowing your worth, Brzezinski uses her talent for seeing issues from all sides to look at the age old salary gap problem.  She interviews both successful men and women (such as Susie Essman and Joy Behar) to examine why women have so much difficulty getting the compensation they deserve. 

D.M. – Reference desk. 

God Bless You Mr. Rosewater by Kurt Vonnegut

Eliot Rosewater is heir to a large fortune. In the mean time, he runs the family's charitable organization. Though it was originally intended as a tax shelter, he takes the job to heart.

God Bless includes biting social commentary and depicts the troubles of post-industrialism in a way that is still relevant today. Written in 1965, it is less complicated than Vonnegut's later work.

BAM-- Circulation Department

A Spell on the Water by Marjorie Cole

When Mary Leader’s husband died the summer of 1957, everyone expected her to sell the lakeside resort in northern lower Michigan where they had been spending their summers, settle down in Chicago and collect welfare while she raised their five children with the support of her in-laws.  When she returned to the resort that fall to close it down, she devised a different plan. 

A Spell on the Water is told from alternating points of view of different family members and spans 15 years.  One of the strengths of this book is how well balanced it is.  Each scene is carefully drawn out; the pacing is exactly right.  Each family member is a developing character.  Mary learns both her strengths and limitations as a parent and provider.  Each child in turn learns how to survive childhood and forge a path outside of the family. 

When I first met Marjorie Cole in 1988, she was a librarian and I was a graduate student in a creative writing program at the University of Alaska Fairbanks.  Little did I know then that almost 20 years later she would be visiting me in Marquette, MI.  In 2006 she came to give a reading from her first book, Bellwether Prize winning Correcting the Landscape,  here at the Peter White Public Library.  Marjorie died of cancer in 2009, shortly before this latest novel was accepted for publication.  She was an environmentalist, an expansive thinker, and a role model. 

E.M. -- Reference Desk

Smokin' 17 by Janet Evanovich

This book was just a hoot.  Bounty hunter Stephanie Plum is back with her best friend and co-worker, Lula, and Lula’s ever expanding spandex wardrobe.  Through the course of this page turner, Stephanie undergoes a series of curses that first makes her insatiable, despite having two handsome love interests at her disposal, and then leaves her exhausted.  Meanwhile, her mother is trying to introduce a third “nice boy who cooks.”  As it turns out, he’s not as nice as he looks, and is just another in the list of people trying to kill her. 

D.G. -- Circulation