| The rush of the holiday
season has passed, and it’s time again to relax with
a good book. Whether snuggled beneath a comforter at home,
headed to a ski resort to nestle by a fire or booked on a
flight to flee this frigid season, there’s no better
time than winter to find comfort in an engrossing novel, biography
or whatever else you might like…
Dede writes: As soon
as you clear up all the holiday debris, you deserve a break!
If I ever clean up our debris, here are some books I am looking
forward to reading: Louis Auchincloss’s East
Side Story (0618452443)
and John Mortimer’s Rumpole and the
Penge Bungalow Murders (0670033561)
, which chronicles his famous title character at the
beginning of his career. A new book I have enjoyed is The
Coroner’s Lunch by Colin Cotterill (156943765)
. This mystery is set in Laos in the 1970s and, with
its gentleness and humor, reminded me of the popular Alexander
McCall Smith series set in Botswana.
I am looking forward to spring for all
sorts of reasons but especially because Sue Monk Kidd
has written a new novel that will be published in April. The
Secret Life of Bees has been one of Book Ends’ bestsellers—selling
well even now, some years after it was published. Her new
novel is called The Mermaid Chair (0670033944)
.
Finally, after resisting for months, I
read Azar Nafisi’s Reading Lolita in Tehran
(081297106X)
and am so glad I did. This is a very moving and important
book.
Alice writes: I seldom
pick up tawdry books, but last month I laid my hands on a
great one: Jean Hanff Korelitz’s The White Rose
(1401352316)
. It took some grit to move beyond the first twenty
pages when I wasn’t sure what I’d gotten myself
into, but the novel evolves into an entertaining read, delving
into the insecurities of aging, the delineation between love
and passion, the age old dichotomy between monetary comfort
and true happiness as well as issues of feminism, class and
sexual identity.
Also, not for the dainty, Tom
Wolfe’s new book I Am Charlotte Simmons
(0374281580)
is a fun foray into college culture. Charlotte is
a scholarship student from the rural South—naïve,
moral and intelligent—when she enters prestigious Dupont.
She discovers that her peers are arrogant, rich and not as
ethical. Wolfe fills the novel with credible characters that
you make you squirm as you laugh, transporting you to a college
community of the new millennium.
For the store’s book group, on Tuesday, January
11 at 7 p.m., we’ll be discussing Ann
Patchett’s The Patron Saint of Liars (0060540753)
. I’m certain that many of you are familiar with
Patchett, author of Bel Canto and Truth and Beauty. This book,
published in 1992, is yet another example of her natural yet
lyrical prose. It is the story of the beautiful Rose Clinton
who leaves her husband in California to see her pregnancy
to term at a home for unwed mothers in Kentucky. What she
finds is that Saint Elizabeth’s, set on a plot of land
riddled with history, will lead her on a path she hadn’t
intended.
Taylor H. writes: The Sword of Shannara by Terry Brooks
(0345314255)
is by far one of the most eloquent and well-written
fantasy novels I’ve read in quite some time. With innovative
characters, beautifully descriptive landscapes, and fast-paced
yet detailed battles, this book appeals to all readers of
science fiction and fantasy. The novel is the first of a trilogy
Brooks has produced, and, at a lengthy seven hundred pages,
it’s a read that will last quite a while. In short,
if you are looking for a fantasy novel to read and have some
time on your hands to do it, The Sword of Shannara is a fantastic
choice.
Marilyn writes: Going Postal (0060013133)
, the latest Discworld novel by best-selling author
Terry Pratchett, is a wry parody of government,
postal and telecommunication services as well as humanity
in general. Pratchett is considered a fantasy author but will
appeal to anyone who enjoys a good laugh and a well-told story.
FROM THE CHILDREN’S ROOM:
Pat writes: Children’s
books with winter themes help us overlook the cold, the ice
and the uncomfortable things that a cold New England winter
can bring. Just right for the younger reader is the delightful
new book by Karla Kuskin, Under My Hood I Have A Hat
(0060572426)
. The large and colorful illustrations with the cheery
poem about bundling up for the snow make it a perfect winter
read.
The Caldecott Honor book by Uri
Shulevitz, Snow (0374468621)
, has just been released in paperback. As snowflakes
slowly fall down from the sky, one by one, people in the city
ignore them, assuming they will melt. Only a small boy and
his dog think that they will amount to anything. Told in simple
prose, it is a wonderful story, great for young preschool-aged
children.
The Snowy Day (0140501827)
by Ezra Jack Keats is the wonderful
story of a child waking up to a snow-covered world. The adventure
of being a mountain climber, climbing over high drifts of
snow, making snow angels on a field of freshly-fallen snow
and imagining a snowball fight with the "big boys"
makes it a full day for any boy in the winter. This book is
perfect for children from preschool through the primary grades.
In Sun Bread (0140501827)
Eliza Kleven
tells the charming story of a baker baking sun bread to bring
some warmth into town. Everyone comes out to share in its
warmth, including the sun. The colorful illustrations and
the lilting rhyme of the text is a joy to read again and again.
The recipe at the end will let you make your own sun bread
to help ward off New England's winter chill. This book is
appropriate for children ages two and older.
Marilyn writes: For middle
schoolers, new in paperback and the first in a trilogy, is
The Tiger’s Apprentice (0060010134)
by Newbery honoree Laurence Yep. Twelve-year-old
Tom Lee, Mr. Hu (a tiger and the latest in a long line of
magical Guardians), an outlaw dragon and a mischievous monkey
must save the world from Vatten, a monstrous being who has
stolen a powerful talisman that can bring peace or destruction.
The author tells a suspenseful tale, weaving ancient Chinese
mythology into the fabric of life in contemporary San Francisco.
For middle and high school readers, The
Mediator #6:Twilight (0060724676)
is the latest and final book in a series by Meg
Cabot, author of the best-selling Princess Diaries
series. Suze is a mediator—someone who can communicate
with ghosts and help them resolve their earthly problems.
But she’s also a teenage girl, and she’s fallen
in love with Jesse, a nineteenth century ghost. Now that Suze
has learned that she is also able to change the course of
history, she’s faced with a difficult choice. Will she
allow Jesse to have the life he’s longed for, or will
she keep him at her side forever, chained to a ghostly existenc
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