April Book Clubs at the Library

The Adult Book Club meets on the second Wednesday of the month at 6:30 p.m. in the Board Room. On April 14, 2010, members will discuss The Book Thief by Markus Zusak. Set in Nazi Germany, this story is told by Death. Death tells the story of Leisel, a young girl who steals books to help her get through the horrors of war.

The Mystery Book Club meets on the third Wednesday of the month at 1:30 p.m. in Meeting Room B. The group will discuss Still Life by Louise Penny on April 21, 2010. Set in a small Canadian village, a retired school teacher and amateur artist is found dead during deer season.

The Busy Mom's Book Club will be discussing Until We Reach Home by Lynn Austin on April 12, 2010 in Meeting Room B. Set in 1897, three Swedish girls embark on a journey to America in search of a better life.

Making Toast by Roger Rosenblatt

Birth. Death. Sorrow. Healing. Roger Rosenblatt's book Making Toast is his own true story, the story of the unexpected death of his one and only daughter Amy Elizabeth Rosenblatt Solomon. Amy was a daughter, sister, friend, pediatrician, wife, and mother.

Making Toast is the story of what happens to Roger, his wife Ginny, their sons; Carl and John and their families and of course Amy's husband Harris and their three children; Jessie, Sammy, and James, aka "Bubbies" after Amy's death.

Upon hearing the new of their daughter's death Roger and Ginny immediately rush to Harris and the children. To comfort and be comforted. Life still moves on. Everyone needs to be taken care of, especially the children. Roger and Ginny begin to "fit in" to Amy's and Harris's home. They adjust their own retirement plans and employment responsibilities to become child care providers, chauffeurs, cooks, tutors, room parents, and of course Grandpa, aka "Boppo" and Grandma, aka "Mimi". Boppo starts his day earlier than the others. He has mastered one household duty--making toast and eagerly offers it to those who join him in the early morning. The children attend school, after school play dates, sport activities, music lessons and more. Harris continues his medical practice as a hand surgeon. Boppo and Mimi and the rest of the extended family members adjust to life without Amy all the while keeping her forever in their hearts. They cherish the moments they shared with her.

Mr. Rosenblatt offers the reader a book that takes note of the minute, everyday life experiences that help us heal after suffering the loss of a loved one. Yes, there are a bad days. We wake up, have some "toast" and start a new day. A really good book!

The Memory Keeper's Daughter By Kim Edwards

In The Memory Keeper’s Daughter, we see how one lie can alter the lives of many.

It is 1964 and Dr. David Henry, an orthopedic surgeon, rushes his pregnant wife Susan to the hospital during a snowstorm. Susan’s doctor is stuck in a ditch and will not make it to the hospital in time, so David must deliver the baby. Susan delivers a beautiful, healthy baby boy. A baby girl is born soon after, and David notices right away that she has Down syndrome. He thinks this would be too difficult for his wife to bear so he gives his newborn daughter to his nurse Caroline and instructs her to take the baby to an institution for the mentally impaired. When Susan wakes from anesthesia, David tells her that their baby daughter died. Meanwhile, on her way to drop off the baby at the institution, Caroline makes a decision, one that will change all their lives.

March Book Clubs at the Library

The Adult Book Club meets on the second Wednesday of the month at 6:30 p.m. in the Board Room. On March 10, 2010, members will discuss Oxygen by Carol Cassella. In this novel, Dr. Marie Heaton, a dedicated anesthesiologist, faces disaster when something goes terribly wrong in the operating room during a routine surgery.

The Mystery Book Club meets on the third Wednesday of the month at 1:30 p.m. in Meeting Room B. On March 17, 2010, members will discuss Savage Run by C.J. Box. Set in Wyoming, Game Warden Joe Pickett must investigate the murders of an animal rights activist, a writer, a congressional representative, and an environmental activist and his new wife.

All are welcome!

Stop by to pick up your copy at the Adult Services Reference Desk on the second floor.

Winter Reading Club

Our first ever Winter Reading program, Chilly Reads, has begun! Pick up a reading log at the Adult Services Desk. Read 6 books and return it by February 27 to be entered into the Grand Prize Drawing. You may complete multiple reading logs. You can also enter online at the library website.

February Book Clubs at the Library

The Adult Book Club meets on the second Wednesday of the month at 6:30 p.m. in the Board Room. Members will discuss Howard's End, the classic tale of life in Edwardian England, by E.M. Foster on February 10, 2010.

The Mystery Book Club meets on the third Wednesday of the month at 1:30 p.m. in Meeting Room B. On February 17, 2010, members will discuss Alias Grace by Margaret Atwood. Atwood reconstructs into fiction the true story of Grace Marks, the young Canadian housemaid accused of murdering her employer and his housekeeper/mistress in 1843.

All are welcome! Stop by to pick up your copy at the Adult Services Reference Desk on the second floor.

What I'm Reading Now: Drood by Dan Simmons

In Drood, Dan Simmons speculates about the last years of Charles Dickens’ life, beginning with the Staplehurst rail crash in 1865. In the crash, the train Dickens was traveling in fell off of a bridge that was being repaired. While he was unharmed, he never full recovered from the trauma of the incident. Since the accident, the only novel he ever finished was the already in-progress, Our Mutual Friend, which he rescued from the crash. His final novel, The Mystery of Edwin Drood, was never completed before he died, and has since become the inspiration for this and many other novels.

Drood is narrated from the point-of-view of Dickens’ real-life friend, author, and opium-addict, Wilkie Collins. Dickens takes Collins into his confidence to tell him about a spectral figure named Drood (who had been traveling in a coffin) that he spotted in the aftermath of the train crash. According to Collins, Dickens becomes obsessed with Drood. He ventures with Dickens into London's seedy underground in an attempt to find him, and to figure out what he was doing at the crash site.

As a narrator, Collins is delightfully unreliable. The reader never knows whether what he says is an accurate account of events, or one of his drug-induced fantasies. It is known that the real Collins suffered from paranoid delusions due to opium use.

Now, I’m not much of a Dickens fan, ever since I had to read A Tale of Two Cities when I was a junior in high school. But the speculative nature of the book appealed to me. Simmons doesn’t quite have the Victorian style down, so it’s not as daunting to a contemporary reader. In addition, not having read much Dickens did not hinder my understanding of Drood.

At 784 pages, this could easily become a doorstopper of a book, and the pacing at times is quite leisurely. However, you get pulled right in by the tension between Dickens and Collins (who clearly envies his friend's success) as well as by the mystery and intrigue surrounding Drood. If you're looking for a book you can sink into and stay for a while, give this one a try.

Readalikes:

The Dickens work that inspired this novel is of course, The Mystery of Edwin Drood. Also of interest is the short ghost story, The Signal-Man which was likely inspired by the Staplehurst train crash, and is probably based on the Clayton Tunnel crash in 1861.

Wilkie Collins' most successful novel, The Woman in White, is considered to be one of the earliest mystery novels.

The Last Dickens by Matthew Pearl is a mystery about an American publisher who is waiting for the latest installment of The Mystery of Edwin Drood. After the man he sends to pick it up is murdered, he takes it upon himself to investigate the suspicious circumstances.