The
humid days are upon us, the creeping hot summer
days that make us beg for an afternoon at the
pool, a weekend on the ocean. May you find yourself
there with a great book in hand. We have heaps
of suggestions for you to read as you recline
on a chaise or lounge on a beach towel. We also
have plenty of events this month and in the
weeks to follow, a good reason to pop in for
some air-conditioning and a relaxing cruise
through our shelves. From all of us at BookEnds,
we wish you a happy Independence Day and a wonderful
month of July. The following are recommendations
for how to pass these hot summer days and nights…
Dede
writes Have you noticed that we are
all almost frantic in our quest for the new
and shiny and that we forget yesterday’s news
before we have recycled the newspapers? As far
as books are concerned, I urge you not to forget
five splendid novels that were published this
spring: Intuition (0385336128)
by Allegra Goodman; My Latest Grievance
(0618644652)
by Elinor Lipman; The Madonnas
of Leningrad (0060825308)
by Debra Dean; The Whole World
Over (0375422749)
by Julia Glass and Digging to America
(0307263940)
by Anne Tyler. These are truly exceptional
gifts for all lovers of excellent fiction.
Speaking
of the new and shiny, one of the shiniest is
the twelfth Stephanie Plum mystery by the hilarious
and irreverent Janet Evanovich. Twelve
Sharp (0312349483)
is just out in hardcover. In the latest installment,
a crazed woman is stalking our favorite bounty
hunter, Plum. As always, Evanovich has filled
this mystery with plenty of action and nonstop
humor.
New
in paperback is Kim Edwards’ The
Memory Keeper’s Daughter (0143037145).
This family story is intensely moving, following
the lives of twins who were separated at birth.
Dr. David Henry is forced by a blizzard to deliver
his own twins. His son is perfectly healthy,
but his daughter has Down’s Syndrome. Rationalizing
it as a need to protect his wife, he asks his
nurse to take the baby away to an institution.
Instead, the nurse disappears into another city
to raise the child herself. The novel has been
praised by Sue Monk Kidd, Jodi Picoult and Sena
Jeter Naslund, and we are looking forward with
much enthusiasm to the author’s visit on July
13th.
Two
new paperback mysteries to tuck into your traveling
bag or beach tote are Michael Connelly’s
The Lincoln Lawyer (0446616451)
and The Devil of Nanking (0143036998)
by Mo Hayder. The Lincoln Lawyer
is Connelly’s first “legal thriller,” and the
reviews were outstanding. Beverly, our voracious
reader in BookEnds’ office, was so inspired
by the book that she wrote a review when the
book was first published. The Devil of Nanking
was recommended by a customer who said it was
a terrific read. We learn about good books all
the time from our customers—and, you know, the
customer is always right!
Alice
writes: Sometimes I find that John
Updike can be a bit boring, but I’m really
enjoying his latest book, Terrorist
(0307264563).
The premise interested me, so I gave it a try
because I felt that Updike could handle all
the issues of nationalism, adolescence, loyalty,
hatred and materialism with ease, depth and
poise. The story follows Ahmad Mulloy Ashmawy,
the son of an Irish woman and Egyptian man being
raised in the NYC suburb of New Prospect, NJ.
His father disappeared when he was three, and
Ahmad, in his teen years, is searching for a
way out of the materialistic culture of his
hometown. He begins work at a furniture store
that is a cover for a radical Muslim organization
and soon becomes involved in terrorist activities.
Updike does a wonderful job analyzing the various
characters surrounding a boy vulnerable to a
fanatical world.
I
am also most of the way through Carolyn Parkhurst’s
Lost and Found (0316156388).
A satire of reality television, the book follows
characters who are on an “Amazing Race”-like
TV show. There is the mother-daughter team,
the Christian couple, the disgruntled high school
sweethearts, the funny brothers from Boston
and the washed-up child stars. Each is competing
for a different purpose, yet each is lost and
trying to “find” something. Broken into separate
chapters told by the key characters, I am finding
this novel funny and insightful if a bit trite—a
great book to read on the beach or back porch
this summer.
Next
up, on Tuesday, July 11th from
7-8 p.m., we’ll discuss Marina Lewycka’s
A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian
(0143036742).
A nominee for the Man Booker Prize, the novel
is both very funny and deeply insightful. Set
in a town north of London, the story follows
an eccentric 83-year-old man named Nikolai who
is set to marry a 36-year-old woman from the
old country, Valentina, until his daughters
move in to stop the union. One daughter a socialist
and the other a capitalist, the sisters are
brought together to stop this gold-digging femme
fatale from swindling their father. In the midst
of this drama, Nikolai is writing a history
of the tractor and its effect on society (hence
the title of the book). Wrapped into the tale
of dueling sisters and a scheming young “hussy”
is an account about immigration, about old traditions
and new customs, about aging and family dynamics.
FROM THE CHILDREN’S ROOM:
Pat
writes: On July 19th,
please join us during our regular “Drop-in Story
Time” when we will be have local author Jane
Sutton, author of the picture book, The
Trouble with Cauliflower (0803727070).
This book is a warm and funny tale of friendship
between Mortimer the koala and Sadie the ostrich
and the cauliflower that causes extremely bad
luck, or does it? Come hear Ms. Sutton read
her book and find out about how she got the
idea for the story. Stay to help us make vegetable
prints with cauliflower, broccoli and other
delicious foods.
Summer
is a perfect time to begin a series, and the
publishers are well aware of how popular they
are—from early readers in the primary grades
through the high school years. A few that seem
to have fallen below the radar of elementary
grade readers are the Henry series by Beverly
Cleary. It is full of fun for both girls
and boys, even though it had been around 50+
years.
Middle
school readers should try The
Lost Years of Merlin (0441009301)
by T.A. Barron, if they haven’t already.
This series about young Merlin will capture
the imagination of both girls and boys. Follow
the adventures and training of young Merlin
to become the greatest wizard of all time.
Sarah,
Plain and Tall (0064402053)
by Patricia MacLachlan, winner of the
Newbery Medal, is a story of historical fiction
for children; it tells the story of a Midwestern
family whose lives are changed by a mail-order
wife/mother from the Northeast. Hilary McKay’s
Saffy’s Angel (0689849346)
is another family story with a totally different
twist. This artistic and unique family all were
given names of paint colors: Cadmium, Saffron,
Indigo and Rose. With the setting in Australia,
their everyday lives are a little different
from our typical Boston-area students. Families
all have good days, and then some that aren’t
so good, but reading about them is always interesting.
Judy
H. writes: Just released, Homefront
(0689868421)
by Doris Gwaltney is one of the best
books I’ve read lately for the middle school
aged reader. Set in Virginia during WWII,
Homefront is the story of 12-year-old
Margaret Ann Motley. All Margaret ever wanted
was a room of her own. Margaret gets her wish
for about two weeks until her cousin Courtney
and her Aunt Mary Lee from London come to live
on the farm to escape the German “blitz” of
London. Margaret now has to share her room,
her friends and even her boyfriend with her
British cousin. Homefront is beautifully
written and gives readers a sense of what life
was like in America during WWII with ration
stamps for food and gas, blackout shades, entertainment
and news only broadcast on radios and the dreaded
news about the death of a soldier. This book
is a great summer read.
Marilyn
writes: In Room One (0689866860),
Andrew Clements introduces us to Ted
Hammond, the only sixth grader in his one room
schoolhouse in Plattsford, a small town on the
Great Plains in western Nebraska. Ted loves
mysteries, and when he sees a face in the upper
window of the deserted farmhouse that used to
belong to the Andersons, he finds himself in
the middle of something that will require his
amateur detecting skills. Publisher’s Weekly
writes, “Once again, Clements captures real
people and real issues, as he shapes another
fine work of fiction.” This is a wonderful summer
read for ages 8-12.
Danny,
aged 9, and Sophie, aged 10, both enjoyed From
the Highly Scientific Notebooks of Phineas L.
MacGuire (1416901957)
by Frances O’Roark Dowell. Danny tells
us the book “is about a boy, Mac, who gets teamed
up with a new and apparently very mean kid for
the fourth grade science fair….This mean kid
has an ‘obnoxious streak’ and nobody likes him,
but later it turns out he’s a nice boy after
all. I would recommend this book for 7- to 9-year-olds
who like funny books and science experiments.”
