The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon

Review by Deya

A patron suggested this book to me sometime in March. I checked it out and it sat on my coffee table for at least 6 weeks(bad, bad, bad librarian). I finally picked it up and was immediately intrigued. And then the Summer Reading Program started and it returned to its spot on my coffee table. Finally, in the midst of those weeks of running like crazy, reading to kids, throwing water slide parties, and setting up art shows, I picked this book back up. And I couldn't put it down.

Daniel, our hero, is the son of a book store owner. His mother passed away when he was very young and his father, whose quiet solidity makes him likable right away, has raised him. We meet Daniel when he has been introduced to the "Cemetery of Forgotten Books" and his father tells him that he may pick one book to take with him, to protect. Daniel finds "The Shadow of the Wind" and it is here that things start to get a little creepy.

The author of "The Shadow of the Wind" is Julian Carax, a figure steeped in mystery, never particularly famous, presumed dead. As Daniel delves into the story behind the book he finds that he will be forced to do more than just scratch the surface; this is no simple author's biography. With each new discovery the tale deepens and Daniel's danger grows. Who is the mysterious faceless man who smells of burning paper and offers to buy the book? Why does a vicious police detective suddenly have Daniel in his sights? And why have all the other copies of Carax's books disappeared?

"The Shadow of the Wind" tells two tales, Daniel's and Julian's. They mirror each other in many ways, most particularly in rather melancholy and sad ways. And yet, there is always some sense of hope. Zafon manages to keep us hoping, and guessing, to the very end.

I did have a hard time getting into this book, hence the coffee table respite. I cannot tell you if it is because the book gets boring early on or if I was just too busy to be able to get into it. I can tell you that I stayed up too late on a couple of work nights because I didn't want to put this down for the last 1/2 of the book.

Good for:
Afternoons on a porch with iced tea
Beach, lake, and river reading
Book discussion
Just because
If you like novels translated from Spanish

The Orangefield Trilogy by Al Sarrantonio

Review by Pam Steers, Teen Volunteer

Are you tired of the long summer days and the heat? Well if you are then these books will help take your mind off the summer blues. In general, these books just seem like another horror mystery but they are so much more and they will have the reader clinging to every sentence. The first book is called Hallow’s Eve and it begins with the story of a young man named Corrie Phaeder who returns to his home town called Orangefield. As he expected there wasn’t much that changed in twelve years except when the strange incidents start to happen again. The local hornets start killing without a reason, the townspeople start going crazy, and all the while Corrie is experiencing unexplainable events in his old house just like before.

The weirdness continues when Corrie meets a scarecrow who likes to be called John and insists the whole town is on the verge of destruction if Corrie and a spunky seven year old named Reggie do not face the evil that is coming on Halloween. The Lord of Death known by the Celtics as Samhain is the evil that is coming to the town and as the events keep getting worse a local detective named Bill Grant discovers the truth and he rushes to stop Samhain and his minions. Will he, Corrie, and Reggie, with the help of John and his friends from the other world, be able to come together in time to stop the evil of Samhain and save the town? The only way to find out is to read the books Hallow’s Eve, Horrorween, and Halloweenland.

I would recommend these books because:

They are a fun way to figure out a mystery.

It takes your mind from the summer weather.

It leaves you with something to ponder about.

The Hunger Games Trilogy by Suzanne Collins

Review by Deya

I'm not usually one to ignore juvenile fiction books but, for some reason, these didn't make it onto my radar until I had to read the first one for a librarian's book discussion. I picked up the first book on a Saturday afternoon. By 11:30 that night, I was downloading the second book in the series onto my e-book reader and if it weren't for a little thing called work, I'd have finished the third book sometime on Monday.

The premise: Sometime in the future, North America only stretches from the Rockies to the Applachians after tornadoes, earthquakes, melting polar ice caps and war have done their work. The country is called Panem and it had a capital in the Rockies and 13 districts. Seventy five years ago, the districts rebelled, District 13 was destroyed, and the Capital instituted The Hunger Games. Every year, starting at age 12, the teenagers of the districts have their name entered into a drawing. The name of one boy and one girl from each district is pulled from the pot. They are taken to the capital, put into an arena, and made to fight each other to the death.

Katniss Everdeen lives in District 12, which is in the Appalachian Mountains. Her father was a coal miner until a mining explosion left her in charge of her mother and younger sister. He was teaching her to hunt not long before he died and now she keeps the family just squeaking by with the food she illegally hunts in the wilderness. This year's reaping is the first one her little sister's name has been in the pot. Katniss has entered her name multiple times, in order to get more food. Prim's name is in just once. And when Prim's name is picked, there's only one thing Katniss can do: volunteer to take her place.

As evidenced above, I had a hard time putting these books down. The fact that the main character comes from these mountains, that she's a hardscrabble kid who really just wants to survive, hooked me pretty quickly. And there's no denying that the books deal with bigger issues like the possible future of our world and politics.

This book is good for:
Keeping you up reading way past your bedtime
Teens, Grade 9 and up
Beach, lake, river, shady patio reading

Nero Wolfe. ANY Nero Wolfe by Rex Stout

Review

By Deya

Summer is coming, even though spring has been fickle and made us wonder at times. There will sunny days by rivers, lakes and oceans. Days that just shout "Read a book!" The thing about summer reading is that we want it to be engaging, take us away from everyday cares. We are relaxing after all, right? There's nothing better than a good murder mystery, one that makes you think but that in the end you don't have to solve because you know Wolfe will do it for you.

I haven't heard much about the Rex Stout "Nero Wolfe" mysteries lately and for good reason: they're old. They were written between 1934 and 1974. They can be old fashioned but they are always a fun, easy and engaging read.

If you go for more cerebral summer reading and need a break between intense books, look no further. If you want a book you can lay on the beach and finish in a day, look no further. And if you want a mystery that keeps you guessing until the very last minute, then definitely look no further. Stout's books stand out because you DON'T know who-done-it. In a world of stories that have been told over and over again, stories that you somehow know the ending of, it's refreshing to be surprised.

I started reading Stout's books in my late teens and still haven't read all of them. I have, however, read many of them more than once. I can honestly say that I usually remember the plot but not the culprit or the clues that help Wolfe to figure it all out. And I never, ever get tired of Archie Goodwin, a smart, funny, sarcastic and generally lovable narrator.

They're great summer books. Actually, they're great anytime books. And if anyone sticks their nose in the air at your slim little murder mystery, just remember that in 2000 at Boucheron, the world's largest mystery convention, the books went up for Best Mystery Series of the Century. Not the year. Not the decade. The century.

The Known World by Edward Jones

Do I laugh or do I weep?
Review by Deya
Special Program Coordinator
Assistant Librarian

Have you ever finished a book and not known whether to laugh or weep? There is a satisfaction that swells your torso for having finished the book but an underlying sadness at the same time. This can be true of happy books and sad books, funny books and scary books. When it comes to this book, I'm not quite sure which of those categories it falls under. It is simply life, so it is all those things and none of them.

I cannot say this story takes place in such and such a year. It bounces around and I find myself in the 1840s, 50s, 60s, and perhaps a bit beyond. And there are so many characters that I cannot pick one and say,  "This is who the book is about." According to the back of the book, it is about Henry, a free black man who owns slaves. But Henry is dead before page 20. As he is dying, we meet his wife, his former owner, his wife's future husband, his wife's future lover, his teacher, his overseer, his overseer's wife, his father Augustus, his mother, and a slave woman who is crazy as the result of a mule's kick to the head. And that is just to name a few. 

The amazing thing about this book is that all these people have stories and we get to hear them and yet it is not the length of a Michener novel. We get to know the daughter of the slave who carves her a wooden doll because we get to hear that in her 90s she has the doll in her deathbed, we hear her say the same words she uttered at four years old, clutching the doll as a child and an old woman. Jones creates a sense of reality by connecting the characters to their pasts and their futures, letting us peep into who they are 60 years down the road, what they were like 10 years ago. These people lived.

The Known World is about things we can't quite wrap our minds around, things we don't want to admit to but that are real and happened. It is about fallibility and love despite it. There are chases and murders, fantastic journeys, tragedy and despair, laughter and souldeep love. Perhaps you will laugh, perhaps you will cry. But you'll have to read the book first to find out.

 Good for:
A full meal book experience
Reading in front of people so they'll think you're smart (It won a Pulitzer, after all)
Adult book discussions
Or just because

Masterpiece by Elise Broach

Boy Meets Beetle
Review by Deya
Special Program Coordinator
Assistant Librarian

        
I picked up this book at a Barnes and Noble in Georgetown, DC. Before I get into the book, I need to explain the experience.

It was the first book store I'd been in since starting back to work in the library. It's a bit frustrating when you realize that the book store shopping experience has been turned into the "What does the library need that I'd like to buy, read, and donate" experience.

It used to be that I could just pick out whatever I wanted but now I work in a place with over 20,000 books and my conscience won't let me get just any ol' book. The 20,000 books part is where the iPhone browsing capabilities come in handy- I can be in a book store in DC, browsing the shelves and also browsing the library catalog to see what we do and do not already have in our collection.

I am in charge of the Summer Reading Program so when I go to a book store my first stop is Juvenile Fiction. I also love reading these books period. They help me reconnect with my childhood, pull me away from the fact that I have to pay for my own visits to the dentist and are a welcome break from the real world of life as a "grown up". They can be angsty, like I was in high school, or calming, which I get from Laura Wilder. They can be about many things- farm life, family, training horses and, in the case of Elise Broach's "Masterpiece", friendship and art. 

Reminiscent of the "Redwall" series and countless other books with sentient animals, the main character is a beetle named Marvin who lives with his family under the sink of a New York City apartment. The family that lives there is...nuts for the most part. However, the son from another marriage is a quiet, kind boy named James who anyone would want to be friends with, including a beetle.

Marvin uses James' pen and ink set to draw the boy a birthday present, a tiny Albrecht Durer-esque rendering of the view from James' bedroom window. This tiny gesture of friendship and love is the match that ignites a chain reaction, leading the two "boys" to The Met and the apprehension of the Durer art thief. 

Anything ART has always fascinated me and the idea of a beetle meticulously copying a Durer, both for himself and for friendship, pulled me into the story. There's enough mystery to keep you reading to the last page and if that's not enough there are fabulous illustrations by Kelly Murphy. And if THAT's not enough there are questions and answers with the author and illustrator in the back of the book, right after discussion questions to use if reading the book with folks it is ostensibly for, that is, 9-12 year olds.

This book can fulfill a ton of reading needs:
Just for Fun
Reading with your son, daughter, niece, nephew, grandchildren
Escape back into preadolescence
Book discussion group (pre-teen or teen)
Or if you really love art and therefore like anything remotely related