Tag Archives: book discussion

Beyond the Best Sellers

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stardustThese books did not make the Best Seller list but they are still good reads!

The Promise of Stardust by Priscille Sibley
This is Priscille Sibley’s first novel. The novel opens on the aftermath of a tragic accident that leaves astronaut, Elle Beaulieu brain dead and the families at odds about life support once they learn that she is pregnant. The story is told from Matt’s point of view. Sibley does a good job of weaving their back story with the present scenes of medial and courtroom drama. A good read alike of fans of Jodi Picoult.

The Bughouse Affair by Marcia Muller
On a lighter note Marcia Muller has written a new series. Two former Pinkerton detective form forces and set up their own detective agency in San Francisco. This first novel in the series has the detectives trying to solve several burglaries with the help of “Sherlock Holmes”. Takes place in late 1880′s

The Good Dream </a>by Donna VanLiere
The setting is 1950 in a small Tennessee town, and Ivorie Walker finds herself lonely after the death of her elderly mother. When she discovers a boy stealing from her garden, she reaches out to uncover where he comes from and seeks to help him, only to face fierce resistance from the town who wants to keep certain secrets. This is a character driven novel with strong women, mystery and inspiration.

Love Anthony by Lisa Genova
While dealing with her husband’s infidelity, Beth tries to recapture the independent, creative spirit she used to be through writing. What emerges is a startling new voice, one that will help her heal. Newly separated Olivia Donatelli is struggling to understand the unraveling of her marriage, and to make sense of her eight-year-old autistic son Anthony’s short life and accidental death. A chance encounter between these two women develops into an unexpected and meaningful friendship, giving one writer the opportunity to find her voice and a grieving mother a chance to finally understand her son. The characters are flat and the stories of the broken marriages really aren’t developed and didn’t need to be there. I only included this book because I thought the author’s portrayal of autism and its misunderstandings and effect on the family were well done.

In Sunlight and in Shadow by Mark Helprin
Leisurely paced and intrically plotted this novel is about Harry, a Jewish special-ops WWII paratrooper (we learn all the throttling details in sustained flashbacks) who has just returned home from the front to find his family’s top-of-the-line leather goods company failing and his father dying. Harry is determined to rescue. When he spies a beautiful woman on the Staten Island Ferry he seeks to learn her identity and to marry her. Catherine turns out to be a level-headed, musical, blue-blooded heiress. With the backdrop of 1940s mobster rule and Harry’s business woes their love grows against all odds.

Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand Part 1

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“Who is John Galt?”

For those brave souls who have read, are re-reading, or have just picked up Ayn Rand‘s 1,000+ page book Atlas Shrugged for the first time, welcome to this series of blog posts about this story.

Atlas Shrugged is written in three parts, each part named in honor of Aristotle‘s laws of logic:

Part One:     Non-contradiction
Part Two:     Either-Or
Part Three:   A is A

In Part One, we meet the main characters

  • Dagny Taggart, Francisco D’Anconia, Hank Rearden and other industrialists who use their brains and skills to produce products to make money and who eventually “go on strike”, withholding their knowledge and talent from the world;
  • James Taggart, Hank Rearden’s family, Dr. Stadler, politicians, and other industrialists sympathetic to the government, who look to seize and transfer wealth from those who produce it, to those who don’t produce, but “need” it;
  • Dr. Akston and Ragnar Danneskjold as role players in the discussion of philosophical ideas and ethical choices in the story;
  • Eddie Willers, a supportive character to Dagny Taggart and a weaving thread throughout the story connecting to John Galt;
  • the constant question…. “Who is John Galt?”

The story is set at an unspecified time in the United States although both the social customs and the level of technology are close to the 1950′s, especially when trains ruled both cargo and passenger transportation across the continent.  Television is a novelty, jet planes are new, there are no cell phones, it is mostly a “man’s world”, and everyone lights up a cigarette at every turn.

The tone is set by the title of Part One: Non-contradiction.  Aristotle’s Law of Non-contradiction, in simple English, is his “logical principle that a thing cannot be both A and not-A at the same time in the same respect.  It would be self-contradictory to say, “Your pants are on fire, and, what’s more, your pants are not on fire.” (see p. 196, Plato and a Platypus Walk Into a Bar: Understanding Philosophy Through Jokes by Thomas Cathcart and Daniel Klein).

Thus the struggle begins. The producers, who are men and women of action and motive, are expected to produce while government groups create new laws and directives that restrict their ability to produce. The producers face Aristotle’s Law of Non-Contradiction – they cannot be both A (able to produce) and non-A (unable to produce) at the same time in the same respect.

Why are there more and more accidents and disasters?  Why is food and general supplies running low?  What are the producers and government groups doing about it?  Who is responsible?

“Who is John Galt?”

Stay tuned for Part Two…..

Who is John Galt?

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If this question means anything to you then you’re part of a group of readers who

  1. are willing to tackle philosophical treatises imbedded in fiction,
  2. relate to stories that challenge man, mind, machine, and technology,
  3. enjoy long sagas, with character driven plots, suspense, heroes and villains,
  4. are curious about why books are “cult classics” or “must reads in a lifetime”,
  5. are willing to think, question, and challenge one’s own premises of existence,
  6. are willing to read over 1,000 pages in small print, in paperback format!

Have you read Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand?  If you have, what did you think of it?

If you haven’t read Atlas Shrugged, or started it but never got past page 100 or never finished it, then consider picking it up one more time.

Follow my blog posts over the next few weeks as I share my comments about the book and join in with your comments and questions, too!

What is my motive?  Who is John Galt?

Val McDermid’s Grave Tattoo

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Thanks to Mystery Book Club at the Milford-Miami Township Branch, I had the pleasure of rereading the winner of the 2006 Portico Prize for Fiction, The Grave Tattoo by Val McDermid.  The book begins with an unusually heavy spring rains that uncover a body covered with tattoos similar to those 18th century seafarers received in the south Pacific.    Residents of the English Lake District think that it is Fletcher Christian who was a childhood friend the poet William Wordsworth.  Many believe that Christian escaped Pitcairn after the infamous mutiny on the HMS Bounty, traveled to England, and was able to tell Wordsworth his side of the story.  Jane Gresham, a William Wordsworth expert, goes to the Lake District to find the lost manuscript written by Wordsworth.  While searching for the manuscript, Jane becomes embroiled in a modern day mystery.  This book was one of the best literary thrillers that I have read.  If you get a chance to read this one, we will be meeting to discuss it on March 15.  Here are a few other literary thrillers that I would recommend.

The Rule of Four by Ian Caldwell and Dustin Thomason

The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova

The Dante Club by Matthew Pearl

The Book of Air and Shadows by Michael Gruber

Interred with Their Bones by Jennifer Lee Carrell

Voices From The Titanic – As You’ve Never Heard Them Before

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As the 100th anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic approaches, there will be many commemorative books released and events scheduled.  (Director James Cameron is releasing a 3D version of his prize-winning film, Titanic, starring Leonardo Dicaprio and Kate Winslet on April 6.) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kVrqfYjkTdQ

If you are interested in focusing on this tragic event for your book club this spring, I can think of no better title to recommend than Allan Wolf’s The Watch That Ends the Night: Voices From the Titanic.  This  work of fiction reads like a spellbinding  work of non-fiction, history and poetry all in one.

The tale of the maiden voyage is told through the voices of over a dozen passengers, crew members, a ship’s rat and even the fateful iceberg itself.  Each voice tells its story for a page or two, from the construction of the ship, to its departure and the voyage where it met its destiny:

My name is John Snow.

You could say that my living is death.

I am the undertaker.

I have come for the bodies.

(John Snow the Undertaker)

 

The Millionaire thinks Titanic is a ship of pleasure.

The Immigrant thinks the Titanic is a ship of dreams.

But they are both wrong. For Titanic is not a ship at all.

Titanic is just good business. Very good business.

(Bruce Ismay the Businessman)

 

I am the Ice. I see tides ebb and flow.

I’ve watched civilizations come and go,

give birth, destroy, restore, be gone, begin …

now that my emergence is complete, there is a certain ship I

long to meet …

(The Iceberg)

 

You see, Titanic, like a beehive, is constructed of cells…

if one cell was to flood, the water could be contained in that compartment alone.

In fact, four cells could be flooded all at once and still Titanic would not flounder.

The odds of a breach in five compartments at once…

Well, I’m not a gambling man, especially when lives are at stake,

but if I did make the bet, I daresay I’d be set for life.

(Thomas Andrews, Titanic Shipbuilder)

 

I see, then, a blackness in the blackness,

a certain solid quality to the night

that makes me shake my head.

Something…

a whale? a rock? a derelict ship?

Still a ways off.  Something small.

No.  Bigger.  Closer. Growing larger

with every passing second …

“Iceberg,” I say.

“Iceberg, straight ahead!”

(Frederick Fleet, The Lookout)

 

This is one of those books that you will sacrifice sleep to finish, even though you already know how the story ends.  Don’t skip the Author’s Note at the end of the book – it is filled with over 20 pages of fascinating facts about the ship and its passengers that you may never have heard before!

 

 

 

Milford-Miami Township Branch Mystery Book Club

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Do you like a good who done it?   If yes, then come join us at the Milford-Miami Township Branch for the mystery book club.  The group meets the third Thursday of each month at 12:30 PM.     The books are on hold to check out one month in advance at the Milford-Miami Township branch, just ask for them at the desk.  Some of the books that we will be reading in 2012 are

First up on January 19 is the 2004 winner of the Edgar Award for Best Fact Crime,  Devil in the White City by Erik Larsson.  This is a true story about the serial killer loose during the Chicago World’s Fair.

On February 16, we will be discussing the cozy mystery by Mignon F. Ballard, Angel and the Jabberwocky Murders.  August Goodnight and Lucy Nan Pilgrim investigate the disappearance of a number of young women in Stone’s Throw, SC.

Then, on March 15 We will be conversing about Val McDermid’s The Grave Tattoo which garnered her the Portico Prize for Literature.  A strangely tattooed body discovered in a bog points to a connection between William Wordsworth and the infamous mutineer Fletcher Christian.

Curling Up With a Good Book

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Looking for a good book to curl up with now that the days are shorter and temperatures are dropping?   Need a good read that will give you a break from the holidays? These are a few titles that I have discovered recently and would recommend.  What do you think?

 

The Things We Cherished by Pam Jenoff

The Things We Cherished tells the story of defendant, wealthy financier, Roger Dykmans who has been accused of WW II era war crimes. Roger Dykmans refuses to help in his own defense, only to say that the answer lies within a clock last seen decades ago in Nazi Germany.  The story moves from Philadelphia to Germany, to Poland, and Italy with a glimpse of the lives that were touched by the anniversary clock and the love affair that turned a brother into a traitor.  Charlotte Gold and Jack Harrington, the two defense lawyers, are frantically trying to prove that Mr. Dykmans is innocent before it is to late  find themselves falling for one another.

 

Rich in historical detail, Pam Jenoff’s, author of The Kommandant’s Girl, new novel is a testament to true love under the worst of circumstances.

 

Domestic Violets by Matthew Norman

Tom Violet is having a midlife crisis.  He is the son of a Pulitzer Prize author, his marriage is crumbling and he is in a dead end job.  When all these factors come together and his world looks like it is about to fall apart Tom must face the reality of his situation and begins to take measures to change his life and find happiness.  A first novel by Matthew Norman rich in character development, humor and a good read. I couldn’t put it down and am looking forward to his next book.

 

A Surge of Guilty Pleasure   by Ron Hansen

Based on a true story.  A traveling salesman has a turbulent love affair with a socialite in the 1920′s.  When passion overcomes common sense and morality the socialite convinces the salesman to help kill her husband turning the tables on him when it goes to trial.  A mystery rich in 1920’s history and colorful characters.

 

All the Way Home:  Building a Family in a Falling – Down House   by David Giffels

 

The Giffels family is growing and so is their need for more space.  Their search for an affordable home leads them to a run-down, soon to be condemned early – 20th century mansion.  Giffels’ mission is to renovate the house one room at a time often fighting a slew of vermin, tackling leaks and crumbling brick. Sometimes sad, sometimes humorous All the Way Home is a memoir of one man’s search to turn a house into a home for his family.

 

 

One Thousand White Women:  the journals of May Dodd   by Jim Fergus

 

One Thousand White Women is the story of May Dodd and a group of pioneer women, who under a U.S. government program in 1875 travel west to intermarry among the Cheyenne Indians.  The program “brides for Indians” was introduced by the Ulysses S. Grant administration as a way to bring the white man’s ways to the Indians.  This work of fiction, written in journal style in May Dodd’s own hand vividly depicts life among the Cheyenne Indians.  That the reader feels as if May Dodd and her companions really existed is one of the strengths of this author’s work.

 

 

The Grief of Others by Leah Hager Cohen

 

Leah Cohen’s newest novel touches on the very thing new parents fear …. The loss of a baby.  Pretending that nothing has happened the Ryries’ family tries to move on with their life only to find that they cannot escape the past.  Cohen delves deep into the psyche and heart of the characters in much the way that Jodi Picoult does bringing them to life and to a better place in the end.

The Latest Survival Tools: The Curling Iron And The Evening Gown

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Beauty Queens by Libba Bray begins with a plane crash that strands thirteen beauty pageant contestants from the “Miss Teen Dream” on a deserted island. Only the island really isn’t deserted. In a dormant volcano on the other side of the island lies the hidden lair of evil corporate spies who are about to give bombs made from hair remover cream to an Elvis loving dictator.  This book has something for everyone:  mystery, suspense, snakes big enough to swallow humans whole, perils of teeth whitening, questioning sexuality and reality TV pirates with British accents.

The contestants’ ranks are filled with the typical pageant stereotypes like the perfect beauty queen from Texas who has been in pageants since she was three and believes that the girls should practice their talent routines while waiting to be rescued.  However, the girls begin to work together and learn to do for themselves without worrying what their parents, pageant officials or society in general will think.  They learn to fish with their curling irons and filter water with an evening dress.  So, after providing themselves with clean drinking water, food, and shelter, the girls must rescue shipwrecked reality stars and finally put a stop to an illegal arms sale.  Along the way there are short commercial breaks brought to you by the Corporation.  The book is filled with footnotes about the fictional products and shows available from the Corporation whose motto is “Because Your Life Can Always Be Better.”

This book is about teenage girls on a journey of self-discovery.  However, it is also a campy, satirical look at society today.  No subject is left uncovered by this book.  Shots are taken at corporate America, reality TV and product advertising.  It also explores taboo topics like GLBT and plastic surgery in teenagers.  So, I would not only recommend this book to teenagers, but anyone looking for a funny unique character driven story.

The Map of Time

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Felix J. Palma’s,  American debut novel, The Map of Time is not my usual genre but on the suggestion of a friend I picked it up,  and loved it.  It is not a short read by any means but it is a well written story including elements of  romance, robots, historical fiction,  mystery, murder  and time travel. The narrator sees all and knows all and is at times repetitive and annoying.  However there are so many other good things about this book that the narrator is easy to overlook. The novel takes place in 1888 London with three related plots and H.G. Wells as the connecting character.  H.G. Wells’ popular book “The Time Machine” has just been published and the time travel frenzy has gripped Victorian England. Wells is called upon to help a young man travel to the past and deal with the murder – by Jack the Ripper – of the woman he loved. In Part Two, a woman, unhappy with the social restrictions of the Victorian age seeks something else in a future time period.  In Part Three, Wells tries to stop a plot to murder Bram Stoker, Henry James and Wells, himself, and steal their fictional creations.  An imaginative story with well  developed characters.  Long yes but well worth it.

 

If you like time travel check out these other books and authors:

Brashares, Ann                   My Name is Memory

James, David                      Before the Cradle Falls

Fforde, Jasper                   The Eyre Affair  (Thursday Next Novels)

Gabaldon, Diana

Wells, H.G.                          The Time Machine

Niffenegger, Audrey      The Time Traveler’s  Wife

Moning, Karen Marie      Highlander romances series

Haddix, Margaret              The Missing Series

Holdeman, Joe                   The Accidental Time Machine

Plunkett, Susan                  Bethany’s Song

Rigler, Laurie                     Confessions of a Jane Austen Addict

Twain, Mark                     A Connecticut Yankee in Kings Arthur’s Court

Staff Recommendation – a Memorable Biography

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Several members of the CCPL staff have been buzzing about a challenging new biography entitled House of Prayer No. 2: a Writer’s Journey Home by Mark Richard. The book is barely 200 pages long, and yet, when you have finished it, you feel you have shared a long and intimate journey with the author.

Richard was born with a skeletal malformation which required excruciating surgeries throughout his life. His father followed one pipe dream after another while his mother tried to hold the family together.  Richard was no saint and worked an assortment of jobs and lived on the edge for many years. The one strength that he clung to was his gift as a writer.  While the book is not overwhelmingly spiritual, the author does make important spiritual discoveries along the way. I especially enjoyed his observation that “The problem with asking God for signs is that he sends them.”

If you liked Jeanette Walls’ Glass Castle ,  Anne Lamott’s Traveling Mercies: Some Thoughts on Faith,  or Maya Angelou’s I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, you will enjoy this book. It would make a great diversion for any book club looking to get out of a rut!