Ruth Holley Library will be temporarily closed for approximately one week starting Mon., Dec. 2 to complete roof repairs.Is Jim Stegner an artist with a violent streak? Or just a violent ex-con with a talent for art? In his second novel, Peter Heller explores this intriguing question with prose both lyrical and muscular. Stegner, a Santa Fe painter with a stint in prison for assault is struggling with deeply embedded grief over the murder of his daughter, Alce. In an attempt to assuage this grief, he flees the New Mexico art scene for a remote cabin in Paonia Colorado where he can paint and also indulge his passion for fly-fishing. Unfortunately, fishing leads him to a situation that explodes in violence that will cause him to question who he is and what he believes. Heller has created a memorable character and, with the first person narrative, never lets the reader lose sight of Stegner's humanity - even when he's engaged in activities more suited to the lawless Old West than the current civilized scene. A great sense of place (I grew up in Paonia, so I should know), and fascinating descriptions of the artistic process and the Santa Fe art world are added bonuses. This is literary writing with a capital L, but also a great suspenseful page-turner. My pick for next year's APPR book!
Though, it was a very rare situation that I actually preferred the film to the novel, this horror story was very well written and kept my interest the whole way through. Oskar is a 13 year old boy with very few friends and broken home. When along comes the mysterious Eli, who says she's been 13 years old for a very long time. It's unexpectedly touching, terrifying, and psychologically fascinating. I feel that it could've done with fewer chapters, however, focused more on the the primary characters.
A friend came to the library looking for the third book in this trilogy. It doesn't come out until July 15, 2014. She told me that she really liked the series. I checked out A Discovery of Witches not knowing what to expect, but I love it! It's very well-written and the 579 pages read quickly. I don't want to spoil the plot for you, but there are witches, vampires and demons, lots of interesting history and a "political" (if you are a witch, demon or vampire) issue that make for a spell-binding story. Can't wait to read the second in the series.
This was the blandest book I've read in awhile. The characters and situations were so similar and uninteresting that they were basically interchangeable. By the end of the book I couldn't have told you which character did what. Nothing of interest happened in the entire book. The writing was good enough, but man, boring!
This was a good book. It was unapologetically not great literature, just a fun, better than average example of chick lit. I enjoyed it. There. I admit it. I enjoy chick lit.
If you can suffer through the prose, the story is quite fascinating. Scott Card's psychological storyline is very interesting, and the ending was unexpected. It's worth trekking through the poor word choices and mucky muck of what is supposed to be "adult conversation" just to see how it all ends.
Well, of course, since one of the Mars rovers plays a significant part in the story! Mark Watney is marooned on Mars, the victim of a violent sand storm that sent his astronaut colleagues scrambling back to Earth, convinced that he was dead. Now it's all about survival, getting back home, and not going crazy when the only music available is one of the other astronaut's disco collection! Mark is one resourceful guy - kind of a Macgyver on Mars - and he's pretty good with a one-liner as well. He'll need all his skills, because Mars is a very dangerous place. Most of the book is in the form of log entries and they can be kind of technical. Just go with the flow and enjoy the twists and turns. Weir is obviously very conversant with space jargon and procedures and has produced a really authentic description of what could be a fanciful situation. Here's hoping that someone who reads this will be inspired to actually take us there!
If you want just a good book to read that is light, funny, and yet poignant, give this one a try. Loved it!
This book was not at all what I expected - I was thinking it would be more of a suspense novel. Instead it is about a woman coming to grips with her own hypocrisy as well as a horrific turn of events in her life. The beginning of the book was pretty difficult to get into - I was wondering what the author was setting us up for, but apparently it was just to show the shallowness of Grace's world. I also became frustrated at this apparently intelligent woman's complete lack of intuition (which maybe was the point!) Maybe she did "know" on some level and decided to stick her head in the sand.
As the story moved away from the murder and toward her rebuilding a life for her and her son, I actually started liking it more, surprisingly. 3 1/2 stars.
The mistake I made was I kept taking breaks from this book for days at a time and when I came back I was confused because the book jumps from character to character, time period to time period. It kept me from really committing to the characters. It was well-written and I'm sure the reason it's only getting 3 stars is entirely my fault.
2 heroines, one a 2004 lawyer and the other a slave in the mid 1800's. The author goes back and forth between the 2 leads, the 2 era's and the life situations seamlessly. this was the author's debut novel.
When I heard about this book it had already won the National Book Award for Fiction. The description immediately intrigued me, and even after only a few pages I was engrossed. Louise Erdrich has rolled out a story so rich in emotion, character development, and place that it is almost impossible to stop thinking about the story after finishing it.
The story begins in 1988, with the attack of a woman living on a North Dakota reservation. The woman's reaction to what has happened to her, combined with the reactions of her husband Bazil and son Joe, bring the action to a deeply emotional place. Narrating the story is adult Joe, looking back at his 13 year old self with complete honesty and rawness. Expertly interwoven with details about Native American and Ojibwe culture and history, the reader feels deeply embedded in the lives of the characters as well as a profound sadness at what has come to pass on the original inhabitants of our great land.
This is not an easy book. There is lust, violence, rape, and sadness. Yet there is also strength, honor, and perseverance. And hope, most important of all.
My introduction to this book was through an NPR interview with the author. I really connected with the things she was saying about her life in general, though our early lives were nothing alike. Not only did I know that she would be a prolific writer, and she is- using lyrically beautiful phrases that have an almost heart-wrenching clarity, but her ability as a storyteller is almost unmatched by anything I've read lately.
'In the Kingdom of Men' is a fictional tale that, in some truth, describes the lives of Americans living in Saudi Arabia in the 1960s on the Aramco Oil Company compound, which really did exist. The compound is a 'Little America' of sorts, with everything (and more) that the wives and husbands could need while spending their lives in the desert. Virginia Mae McPhee and her husband Mason have escaped Oklahoma to a new kind of withering heat. Virginia, or Gin, is at first uncomfortable with the level of luxury she is now living in:
houseboys, gardeners, a private car to take them everywhere. Even then, it all comes at a price, and Gin soon finds herself wanting much more than the oppressive life she seems destined to lead. In the land of emirs and oil princes, women are even more invisible than they might have been in America.
There is something more to this story, and plenty of colorful characters, adventure, and action to keep the reader fascinated and fully engrossed in the education of Gin McPhee and land where sand meets sea.
Poor Quoyle. The quiet, miserable hulk of a man has lost his two-timing wife in an accident- leaving him with their two daughters to raise. Joining resources with an estranged aunt, he decides to make a new life in their ancestral homeland of Newfoundland. There, Quoyle and his timid girls find a home amongst the briny townspeople and rediscover what it is to love and be loved.
Slow, deliberate pace gives way to lush descriptions of landscape and characters. Nothing much really 'happens,' per se, but the daily lives and emotions of the characters keep the pages turning. I've heard this was made into a movie, but I can't imagine it could soar to the heights that the book does. Proulx is a master of prose and shapes a town, a landscape, and most importantly- a man- into shards we all find within ourselves.
Scary and haunting. There were times when I actually had to put this book down because I was so terrified by what had just happened or what I thought was going to. Cormac McCarthy can take a sparse, post-apocalyptic nothingness and turn it into a setting rich with emotion and detail. I find myself still thinking about this story; wondering, hoping...unable to let go of the images it leaves behind.
Snow White Must Die is an excellent police procedural/mystery. It is by German author, Nele Neuhaus, but the translation is flawless. It doesn't read like a stiffly translated book. If this hadn't been the Manitou Library's book club selection, I probably wouldn't have read it since I don't care for translated books. Snow White Must Die is outstanding and I am looking forward to reading Neuhaus' other books. I don't want to give away the plot, so read it for yourself. It is in hardback and on Overdrive.
Beautiful little story, full of fantastic imagery and good feelings.
It revolves around the journey of a young man in search of a fallen star for his love. He travels through the magical land of Faerie and encounters many wonderful, strange and malicious beings. A great book with a happy ending.
This book is set up as a series of dictionary entries that portray one couple's roller coaster of a love story. As such it follows no specific timeline and lets the reader try to piece it together one entry at a time.
There is at least one word for each letter and the corresponding "definitions" range from a few words to multiple pages making this book a quick read at only a little over 200 pages.
Wavering between three and four stars. While I appreciated the intricacy of Ursula's many lives (I kind of saw it as a Sliding Doors type of book), there were points when I was madly flipping back and forth trying to remember what happened the LAST time she died and who the myriad of characters were, which was frustrating and took me out of the story. I do think the writing was amazing, and read this much faster than I anticipated.
I agree with other reviews I have read in that I'm not sure how it should have ended, but the one it had was not as strong as the rest of the book. I may change the rating once I have the chance to digest this book a bit more!
This was a wonderful book written by the characters in the form of letters to each other. The story line was engaging. Historical fiction that takes place shortly after the Nazi occupation of an island between England and France. It felt as if you had spent time with new friends at the end of the book. Charming!