The library received a grant for this new system which was needed to replace the existing Athena system which is no longer updated by its new parent company Follet. The new system will be called “Atrium” and its parent company is Book Systems out of Huntsville, Alabama.

The Hunted is a page-turning thriller based on a true story. In his author’s note Haig says he was approached on his Web site from “…a Russian expat who generously suggested that his adventure might inspire a captivating book.”  This man was right to suggest that, and Haig was right to take him up on his offer. 

If you like a good political thriller, give The Hunted a try. I truly enjoyed it. Haig fans can join me in hoping he gets back to Sean Drummond eventually while those new to Haig can check out his older novels in the meantime.

Poetry:

I Don’t Want to be Rich, Just Able by Carol Prejean Zippert

The Highwayman’s Wife by Lynnell Edwards (from Kentucky, not Alabama, but we won’t quibble).

Fiction:

Little Lamb Lost by Margaret Fenton ( Birmingham resident and Murder on the Menu/Murder in the Magic City co-organizer)

Blood Brothers by H. A. Harazin (2009 Alabama Library Association  Award Winner for Young Adult Literature).

The Well and the Mine by Gin Phillips (2009 Alabama Library Association Award Winner for Adult Fiction).

The Chicken-chasing Queen of Lamar County by Janice Harrington (2009 Alabama Library Association  Award Winner for Children’s Literature).

Non-fiction:

State of Laughter by Don Noble (comic fiction from Alabama)

Family Bible by Melissa J. Delbridge (memoir of a Tuscaloosa resident)

Spit, Scarey Ann, & Sweat Bees by Kathryn Tucker Windham (newest book by this Alabama favorite)

Headwaters: A Journey on Alabama Rivers by Beth Young Maynor and John C. Hall (breath-taking collection of photographs highlighting some of Alabama’s most beautiful locations).

If any of you have read a book lately that you enjoyed, feel free to send me a comment about it to add to this blog. It doesn’t have to be from the library, but if it is not be sure to mention that in your review.

The Knitting Circle by Ann Hood: From Bookmarks Magazine
Ann Hood lost her own young daughter to a rare form of strep, and in this semiautobiographical novel, she reveals the searing pain, the upheaval, and the loss of self that accompany such a heartbreaking event. Critics applauded Hood’s intense, unbearably sincere portrayal of grief. However, some felt that the cast of characters was so large and unwieldy that many were caricatures serving merely as vehicles for different steps in the healing process. Those who appreciate the comforting click of knitting needles will find kindred spirits in The Knitting Circle, but it’s not necessary to know the difference between casting on and casting off to enjoy this poignant novel.
Copyright © 2004 Phillips & Nelson Media, Inc.

The Good Fairies of New York by Martin Millar: From the Back Cover
“Millar writes like Kurt Vonnegut might have written, if he’d been born fifty years later in a different country and hung around with entirely the wrong sort of people… The Good Fairies of New York is a story that starts when Morag and Heather, two eighteen-inch fairies (that’s 45 centimeters tall to you) with swords and green kilts and badly-dyed hair fly through the window of the worst violinist in New York, an overweight and antisocial type named Dinnie, and vomit on his carpet…It has a war in it, and a most unusual production of Shakespeare’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” and Johnny Thunders’ New York Dolls guitar solos. What more could anyone desire from a book?… Read it now, and then make your friends buy their own copies. You’ll thank me one day.”–Neil Gaiman, from the introduction

Marcelo in the Real World by Francisco Stork (YA novel): Marcelo Sandoval hears music no one else can hear–part of the autism-like impairment no doctor has been able to identify–and he’s always attended a special school where his differences have been protected. But the summer after his junior year, his father demands that Marcelo work in his law firm’s mailroom in order to experience “the real world.” There Marcelo meets Jasmine, his beautiful and surprising coworker, and Wendell, the son of another partner in the firm. He learns about competition and jealousy, anger and desire. But it’s a picture he finds in a file — a picture of a girl with half a face — that truly connects him with the real world: its suffering, its injustice, and what he can do to fight. Reminiscent of “The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time” in the intensity and purity of its voice, this extraordinary novel is a love story, a legal drama, and a celebration of the music each of us hears inside.

If you’d like to go on reserve for any of these books email me at wetumlib@bellsouth.net.

      Although it’s been several years since I’ve read “Bastard Out of Carolina” it’s the kind of story that sticks with you.  Probably because Bone is a character you will come to care about.

      Ruth Anne “Bone” Boatwright is coming of age in a family that is poor and wild but decent people in their love for each other. Her uncles have been in and out of prison, her Mom isn’t particular about things like marriage before children, and the women can cuss and hold their own with the men.  The novel reminds me of “Little Altars Everywhere” by Rebecca Wells in that it starts out humorous with eventually touches of foreshadowing that there is something darker to emerge.

      For reasons no one can understand, Bone’s mother falls for a drifter who lies and has trouble holding a job.  And so it is that “Daddy Glenn” comes into Bone’s life.  She doesn’t like him one bit from the very beginning and is struck by the disproportionally large hands on his small body.

      Those hands will soon be a torment to her as the book goes hurtling to the inevitable conclusion.  What is even more gripping, however, is the relationship between Bone and her mother.  That ending is a surprise best left for the reader to discover.

      Published in 1992, this first novel by Dorothy Allison was a National Book Award finalist.  She is also the author of Trash, The Women Who Hate Me, Skin:  Talking About Sex, Class, and Literature, and Two or Three Things I Know for Sure.

      A quick look at amazon.com shows over 300 customer reviews of five stars (the highest possible rating) and a list of over 100 nonfiction books that have cited Bastard Out of Carolina.

      From her own web site is information on the author:  “Dorothy Allison grew up in Greenville, South Carolina, the first child of a fifteen-year-old unwed mother who worked as a waitress. Now living in Northern California with her partner Alix and her teenage son, Wolf Michael, she describes herself as a feminist, a working class story teller, a Southern expatriate, a sometime poet and a happily born-again Californian.”

      Allison will soon publish her newest work, She, Who Is.

The library has purchased at least one book by each of the authors from Sunday’s event. These books are available for checkout;  just look for the Murder on the Menu display near the circulation desk.

For those of you that attended the event, we would like to hear from you. Tell us what you liked, what you didn’t like, what could have gone better, etc. We try to make adjustments every year based on what we learned the year before.

On behalf of the Wetumpka Public library I would like to thank the Friends of the Wetumpka Library; especially Murder on the Menu committee members Betsy and Craig Sheldon, Becki and Richard Cumbie, Tammy and Neil Lynn, Tonia Ayers, and Phoenix Martin for all they do to make this event possible. Thanks also to Margaret Fenton from Birmingham and our own Tammy Lynn for the year-round work they do getting these authors lined up and excited about their trip to the deep south! I would also like to thank the City of Wetumpka for their support in providing the venue for this event.

Ken Follett’s “World without End” was one of the best historical novels of 2008. It’s a thousand page, traditional historical novel with a great storyline backed by meticulous research. The book is the story of the rebuilding of a fabulous gothic cathedral in Kingsbridge, England.

“World without End” is the sequel to “The Pillars of the Earth,” and our book group decided to read these blockbusters in order. “The Pillars of the Earth” tells the story of the Kingsbridge cathedral from 1135-1174, from its first conception to completion. It’s the story of how a huge stone cathedral is constructed from the foundations to the topmost spire. It’s the story of Tom, the master builder and Philip, the Prior of Kingsbridge, and their intertwined lives. It’s the story of the expansion of commerce in a medieval town. And it’s full of intriguing details of town’s daily life, military life, and monastic life, all set against the backdrop of civil war.

First published in 1989, “The Pillars of the Earth” was an international bestseller. Master storyteller Follett surprised everyone by writing something different than his usual excellent thriller. Follett’s Edgar award winning “The Eye of the Needle” is the book most people know. Yet “The Pillars of the Earth” is now my favorite Follett novel. I thoroughly enjoyed the medieval soap opera that intertwined with detailed information on the building of a gothic cathedral and medieval life. If you want to find out what ordinary people ate and wore and how they made a living, what the monks in a monastery did other than pray, and the political maneuverings of the time, this is a book you’ll enjoy.

Inspired to do a little background research on the Middle Ages, I reread “Cathedral” by David Macaulay. This is a “picture book” for all ages with highly detailed pen and ink drawings showing every step of cathedral construction with a straightforward narrative to accompany the drawings. It’s an award winning book itself and will clear up any mystery about how the keystone is positioned in a vaulted ceiling without crashing to the ground. I’d be willing to bet Ken Follett, cathedral enthusiastic that he is, owns a first edition.

Ken Follett’s “The Pillars of the Earth” and “World Without End,” and David Macaulay’s “Cathedral” are available from Wetumpka Public Library.
The book group meets on the third Tuesday of every month at noon at the Wetumpka Library. Our book list for the next six months is available at http://tinyurl.com/8zp579. Please join us for lively, book-centered discussion.

Thanks again to all for making this such a success. The food drive is scheduled to end this Friday.

Susan

Since then the collection has grown due to donations from patrons.  A special thanks goes to Dr. Jeff Langham who has donated CDs more than once to the library.

You may not find the newest hits here, but you will find new seasonal music just in time for the holidays. There are also great compilations of jazz, big band, dance tunes, R & B, reggae, blues, contemporary Christian, broadway and show tunes.

My favorate (right now) is a CD titled A Song for my Father. This project features the sons and daughters of famous musicians each performing one of their fathers’ songs. Although you can “hear” their father in their performance, their individuality nonetheless shines through.  These apples have not rolled far from their trees.

So whether you want something new to listen to in the car, at home or for your next party don’t forget to check at the library. Music CDs check out for one week, and as with all media may not be put in the book drop.

Susan