Printers Row, the Chicago Tribune's new publication, debuted just three weeks ago. It presents broad coverage about books and literature from around the country with a distinct Chicago perspective. The journal (advertisement free) includes essays, book lists, reviews and recommendations from some of the Tribune's favorite writers: Rick Kogan, Elisabeth Taylor, Julia Keller and Chris Jones. Author interviews/essays, local area book club insights, and an original piece of literary fiction are a few of the features in each weekly edition.Printers Row is available at Readers Services to read while you are in the Library. Catch up on the latest from Chicago's literary world, and let us know what you think about this exciting resource from the Trib!
mary
PS The St. Charles Public Library has already been mentioned in Printers Row thanks to our very own Carol H. who had the first published Letter to the Editor!
Still Life Louise Penny
First in the Inspector Gamache Three Pines series. Well developed, believable characters, a carefully plotted mystery and a vivid sense of place (Quebec) are evident in Penny's books. Think Agatha Christie and Donna Leon with deeper psychological overtones and a world that is enchanting and real. Great for a winter evening...
Shelter Harlan Coben
Harlan Coben's first YA novel featuring Mickey Bolitar is fast-paced suspense with believable "odd ball" teen characters who become friends in order to solve the mystery of a classmate's disappearance.
The Cat's Table Michael Ondaatje
An adult narrator tells of his adventures as an 11-year old boy traveling on an ocean liner from Sri Lanka to England in the 1950s. The child's perceptions of being abroad ship and the adult world around him are captivating. I enjoyed the reflections of the narrator as a child rather than as an adult.
Naomi's Gift: An Amish Christmas Story Amy Clipston
Part of a family-oriented Amish community, 24-year-old Naomi King has given up her dreams of finding true love. But when a young widower stirs surprising feelings in her, Naomi cautiously opens her heart to him and receives an unexpected response.
Be Different: Adventures of a Free-Range Aspergian: With Practical Advice for Aspergians, Misfits, Families & Teachers (CD audiobook) John Elder Robison
John Robison (Look Me in the Eye), diagnosed with Asperger's at the age of 40, narrates his book with an enjoyable,strong, engaging voice. His positive, matter-of-fact tone in relaying his life-experiences is inspiring and also reflective of his very analytical way of thinking. An eye-opening look at how aspergerians perceive social situations.
The House at Riverton Kate Morton
Set at a great manor house in post WW I Britain, Morton's story is told primarily from the point of view of Grace, a servant who comes to the Great House at age 14. It is now 1998, and Grace is recalling events that led to a death on the estate in 1924, and her role in it. Riverton is similar to PBS's Downton Abbey... same time frame, similar themes and settings.
Crooked Letter, Crooked Letter Tom Franklin
Set in rural Mississippi, with flashbacks to the 1970's, Larry Ott and Silas "32" Jones were boyhood friends back then. But Larry has been ostracized by the community ever since high school, when his date disappeared and was never found. Larry is still under suspicion 20 years later. Now another girl has disappeared, and Constable Silas is investigating Larry as a suspect... Layers of the past are gradually uncovered. A satisfying read but slow read.
Baking Cakes in Kigali> Gaile Parkin
Parkin's book reminds me of McCall-Smith's No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency. Angel Tungaraza is a Tanzanian immigrant living in a Ruwandan apartment complex with residents from many cultures. She has her own cake business and tries to match each special cake to a special occasion while also finding time to advise her clients, rear five grandchildren and cope with life in Kigali. Though descriptions are scant and discussion of social issues is not overbearing, the reader is presented with constant references to the aftermath of genocide, AIDS, corruption, and other complexities of daily life. Quick, enjoyable read.
The Swerve Stephen Greenblatt
Professor Greenblatt's book reads like an expanded thesis on the birth of modernity and the Renaissance. The storyline is based upon the discovery of Lucretius's "On the Nature of Things" by15th century Vatican humanist Poggio Bracciolini.The story line is both fascinating and confusing as Greenblatt often swerves from one topic to another. A worthwhile read for humanities majors and those willing to follow the author's somewhat plodding style.
The Memory Chalet Tony Judt
The Memory Chalet is a metaphor for author/journalist Tony Judt's mind from which flows wonderful associations and remembrances throughout his enchanting book. A particular London bus route, the 1968 Paris student riots, road trips across America and rail journeys spill across the pages as the author arranges lifelong reflections for the reader's enrichment...don't miss it.
mary
Mr. and Mrs. Madison's War: America's First Couple and the Second War of Independence by Hugh Howard ( 973.52 HOW )
Historian Hugh Howard commemorates the 200th anniversary of the War of 1812 with an illuminating assessment of America's first and least understood war. Americans and the British clashed on land and sea, and from these battles arose defining elements of U.S. independence (including "The Star-Spangled Banner"). In addressing the war, Howard creates a revealing portrait of President James Madison and his wife, the leading figures in a pivotal moment in American history. History fans will enjoy reading about this important, oft-forgotten war through the eyes of America's first couple.
The President and the Assassin: McKinley, Terror, and Empire at the Dawn of the American Century by Scott Miller (973.88 MIL)
In 1901, as America tallied its gains from a period of unprecedented imperial expansion, an assassin's bullet shattered the nation's confidence. The shocking murder of President William McKinley threw into stark relief the emerging new world order of what would come to be known as the American Century. The President and the Assassin is the story of the momentous years leading up to that event, and of the very different paths that brought together two of the most compelling figures of the era: President William McKinley and Leon Czolgosz, the anarchist who murdered him. With a deft narrative hand, journalist Scott Miller chronicles how these two men, each pursuing what he considered the right and honorable path, collided in violence at the 1901 Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo, New York. Along the way, readers meet a veritable who's who of turn-of-the-century America.
Inventing George Washington: America's Founder in Myth and Memory by Edward G. Lengel (973.41 LEN)
An entertaining and erudite history that offers a fresh look at America's first founding father, the creation of his legend, and what it means for our nation and ourselves.
And let's not forget those nominees who never made it to the White House:
Almost President: The Men Who Lost the Race but Changed the Nation
Profiles 12 men who have run for the presidency and lost, but who, even in defeat, have had a greater impact on American history than many of those who have served as president.
marlise
One interesting surprise was to see the majority of the beach-goers reading. Hardbacks, paperbacks, and now more than ever, eReaders. LOTS of Kindles in the hands of many sunbathers. I found myself sneaking peeks at book covers, curious about what others were choosing to spend their valuable downtime devouring--turns out I saw a lot of popular fiction by Patterson, Grisham, Clancy, and Stockett (The Help). (Not sure what was on those Kindles, which is one downfall for the nosy, I guess.)
I sometimes found the librarian in me surfacing as I found myself singing the praises of free downloads from the library to those eReader owners. Seeing the excitement on their faces was thrilling!
Just for fun: The primary language spoken at my vacation destination is Papiamento, a mixture of several native languages. Can you guess where I was?
Jill
Not as much a detailed history of football as a cultural look at how football became the most popular American sport - surpassing even baseball, which no one thought could ever happen. The author frames the narrative around key episodes in the history of the game (it opens with the legendary game between the Colts and Giants in 1958) and many of the fascinating personalities (players, coaches & owners) who have dominated the sport. A great read for anyone interested in gaining a "big picture" look at football's development.
Carlisle vs. Army: Jim Thorpe, Dwight Eisenhower, Pop Warner and the Forgotten Story of Football's Greatest Battle by Lars Anderson (796.33263 AND)
This account of one of college football's greatest contests was given a *Starred Review* by Booklist which called it, " A great sports story, told with propulsive narrative drive and offering a fascinating look at multiple layers of American popular culture."
When Pride Still Mattered: A Life of Vince Lombardi by David Maraniss
Written by a Pulitzer Prize winning journalist, Sports Illustrated said this "may be the best sports biography ever published."
marlise
This news made me smile. Gantos is, of course, a children's author as he wouldn't have won a Newbery if his books weren't intended for kids, but there is tangible depth and insight to his middle and high school books that I find very appealing.
A couple of years ago I discovered he'd written a memoir, Hole in My Life, which should be required reading for every teenage boy who might be looking for direction.
Hole in My Life won the Printz award for excellence in Young Adult literature in 2003. Dead End in Norvelt takes the reader further back in Gantos' life, to the year 1962, when he was 12 and trying to grow up in a small town in western Pennsylvania. Two memoirs, two major awards - way to go, Jack Gantos!For more information on Jack Gantos click here.
For a complete list of 2012 Newbery, Caldecott and Printz honorees and award winners click here.
Jane
BEST NOVEL
The Ranger by Ace Atkins
From an acclaimed, award-winning author comes an extraordinary new series about a real hero, and the real Deep South. "With terrific, inflected characters, and a dark, subtle sense of place and history, "The Ranger" is an exceptional novel."--John Sandford.
Gone by Mo Hayder
A carjacking goes from bad to horrifying in Hayder's gripping fifth thriller featuring Bristol Det. Insp. Jack Caffery and Sgt. Phoebe "Flea" Marley.
The Devotion of Suspect X by Keigo Higashino
One of Japan's best-selling crime novelists makes
his American debut in an atmospheric thriller about a desperate woman,
Yasuko, who, craving a peacefull life with her daughter, Misato, kills
her abusive lout of an ex-husband.1222 by Anne Holt
From Norway's bestselling crime writer comes a suspenseful locked-room mystery set in an isolated hotel where guests who are stranded during a monumental snowstorm begin turning up dead.
Field Gray by Phillip Kerr
Kerr's seventh Bernie Gunther thriller, starring the cop turned PI in 1930s Germany who landed in Argentina and then Cuba after the war, finally answers in full the question that has been hovering around the edges of the series all along: What did you do during the war, Bernie?
BEST FIRST NOVEL BY AN AMERICAN AUTHOR
NYPD detective Conlon follows up his first-class memoir, Blue Blood, with this superb first novel. Set in upper Manhattan's Dominican-dominated Washington Heights, it is a police procedural with a potent mix of strong story line, police jargon, crisp dialog, black humor, bleakness, gangs, drugs, shootings, murders, and suicide, with complicated romances thrown in.
Last to Fold by David Duffy
Duffy's promising debut introduces Turbo Vlost, a gulag survivor who later worked as an undercover man for the KGB until the Soviet Union's breakup. Now living in New York City, Vlost works at finding things for people.
All Cry Chaos by Leonard Rosen
This startling novel opens on an aging Interpol
agent taking his heart medicine and thinking of retirement. But Henri
Poincare can't resist one more case: a mathematician is killed in a
puzzling explosion in an Amsterdam hotel. Bent Road by Lori Roy
Set in the mid '60s, Roy's outstanding debut melds strong characters and an engrossing plot with an evocative sense of place.
Purgatory Chasm by Steve Ulfelder
Ulfelder couples precise, evocative prose with an original private investigator in his compelling hard-boiled debut.
For a list of all nominees, please see their press release (pdf).
marlise
P.S. We're sure the books in the Library get up to similar antics during closed hours!
marlise
Jill
