Meet Author Tess Gerritsen October 1, 2013

Mark your calendars!  We are thrilled to welcome the internationally known bestselling author Tess Gerritsen to our library October 1, 2013 at 6:30 p.m.  Publisher Weekly has dubbed her "the medical suspense queen".

Ms. Gerritsen says "I had the idea of a library tour some years ago because I know there are so many libraries with meager budgets who never get author visits.  I had thought of trying it out first in West Virginia but when Mary Clare (of Bartholomew County Public Library in Columbus, Indiana) e-mailed me, inviting me to speak at her library, I thought why not start in Indiana? So it's a bit of an experiment.  It's my way to thank our public libraries because that's where I first learned my love of books!". 

The author has taken an unusual route to her writing career.  After graduating from Stanford University she went to medical school and became a doctor.  She began writing while on maternity leave.  She is now a full-time writer residing in Maine.

Her first novels were romantic thrillers.  Then her first medical thriller Harvest put her on the New York Times Bestseller List.  She has since won the Nero Award for Vanish and The Rita Award for The Surgeon.  She also has a series of novels featuring Rizzoli and Isles which inspired the TV show.

 Ms. Gerritsen will present a general talk about her books, the ideas that inspired them and the TV show.  There will also be a question and answer session.

All are welcome to visit with Ms. Gerritsen October 1st!

Tess Gerritsen at a book signing

"Flight Behavior" by Barbara Kingsolver

 

Most readers will agree that Barbara Kingsolver is a wonderful writer.  Our book club just finished Flight Behavior.  Some thought it was a little too long but overall we highly recommend it.  

Her sentences are so beautifully written that you want to share and remember them.  Then you realize you'd be copying down the entire book. As Time Magazine says "Kingsolver is a gifted magician of words".  

She is also funny and spot-on in her observations.  Here are samplings from Flight Behavior:

"Honk of you love Jesus, text while driving if you want to meet up."

"Will you explain to me why people encourage delusional behavior in children and medicate it in adults."

"I never learn anything from listening to myself."

In Flight Behavior we get to know Dellarobia Turnbow from Appalachia who is running from her stifling life when she happens onto a shocking "valley of fire" filled with millions of monarch butterflies.  The butterflies draw scientists, the media and local townspeople with everyone weighing in on explanations as to why the butterflies are where they aren't supposed to be.  

Kingsolver's books are known for pushing her personal convictions and in this novel it is climate change. Amazon says "she never reduces her characters to mouthpieces" which we all agreed was true.  

She is the author of several highly acclaimed novels including The Poisonwood Bible which follows a missionary family in the Congo. It is interesting to note that when Kingsolver was seven years old her physician father took the family to the former Republic of Congo for his work in a health care capacity.  She also wrote about her family's attempts to eat locally in the non-fiction Animal, Vegetable, Miracle.
She has received numerous awards and prizes and has been nominated for the PEN/Faulkner Award and The Pulizer Prize.  

Flight Behavior and any other of her works are great book club selections as they bring up interesting and possibly controversial topics leading to living discussions. Check one out today.

A Once In A Lifetime Opportunity at Trine University

Here is an amazing opportunity for those of us that live/work close to Trine University in Angola, Indiana.  More than 40 books and manuscripts are on loan to Trine from The Remnant Trust, a public foundation that shares its collection of works, some dating to 3000 BC.  There will be texts and documents from the classics in history, philosophy  literature, politics and the sciences.

The book 1,000 Years, 1,000 People:  Ranking the Men and Women Who Shaped the Millennium named the 1,000 most influential people of the past 1,000 years.  Johannes Gutenberg was No. 1.  His printing press was credited with lowering the cost of books, making accessible to almost everyone the wisdom and knowledge of the greatest minds of the ages.  The first book Gutenberg printed was of course the Bible.  At Trine University you will be able see some amazing items including a leaf of one of the first printed pages by Gutenberg (1455), a first edition of the King James Bible (1611), a 16th century text of the Torah, an early copy of the Emancipation Proclamation and books by Copernicus, Galileo and Darwin.

You can view the collection in Taylor Hall's Wells Gallery through May, 2014.   The gallery will be open for viewing at the following times in September:

Sunday, September 8, 2013 - grand opening 11 a.m. - 2 p.m.
Saturday, September 14, 2013 - from 1 - 3 p.m.
Sunday, September 15,2013 - from 11 a.m. - 1 p.m.
Saturday, September 21, 2013 - from 1 - 3 p.m.
Sunday, September 22, 2013 - from 11 a.m. - 1 p.m.

Visitors are encouraged to participate in 30 minute talks followed by discussion on topics generated by the texts.  For a list of topics and dates e-mail Sarah Young at youngs@trine.edu.

Additional viewing hours will be announced later.  Visit trine.edu for details.  

To arrange a tour for your organization contact Dareen McClelland in the Office of the President at (260) 665-4102.

Congratulations to our favorite mystery writer Brian Freeman

Congratulations are in order for one of our favorite mystery writers, Brian Freeman.  Brian was so gracious when he came to our library a few years ago to speak about his love of writing.  

He has just won Best Hardcover Novel 2013 in the Thriller Awards.  Here is what he had to say:  "I'm leaving New York...after one of the most memorable and emotional nights of my life.  ...in a ballroom filled with amazing suspense writers, I heard my name called.  ...my book Spilled Blood was named the Best Hardcover Novel of 2013 in the Thriller Awards.  I can't remember when I was more unprepared or overwhelmed.  I cried.  I thanked a lot of people...bu this is my chance now to thank you, the readers, for your support, which has been so important to me.  If someone had told me 10 years ago that I would be in this position today, I never would have believed them.  This is the fulfillment of a dream.  And what it makes me want to do is go home and write more books."

Brian also writes a mystery series featuring Duluth Lieutenant Jonathan Stride.  The first in the series is Immoral.  For fans waiting for the newest in the series, the UK edition, The Cold Nowhere, is available at Amazon UK.  Unfortunately, there is no date set yet for the US edition.  Brian also writes stand alone mysteries including the just honored Spilled Blood.  My personal favorite stand alone is The Bone House. 

Brian has been writing since he was a teenager and didn't get published until he was 41.  He just laughs when people call him an overnight success.  He's the most down-to-earth, nicest guy and we are hoping he will come back to visit our library when we celebrate our 100th anniversary in 2015.  In the meantime, we will keep enjoying his suspense-filled, award winning novels!

Author Brian Freeman

"The Lotus Eaters" by Tatjana Soli

The Lotus Eaters by first time novelist Tatjana Soli is a surprisingly good read.  It is about Vietnam which is a hard sell to some.  Several book club members did not read it which truly is their loss.  

The story revolves around Helen, a naive college student, who drops out to go to Vietnam when the war is in its beginning stages. Over several years she becomes an award-winning photojournalist.  Sam Darrow, her mentor/competitor is also her lover and draws her more and more into the darkness of this beautiful and mysterious country.  Their friend and co-worker eventually becomes her lover after Sam is killed and Saigon is falling.

The author is never heavy handed in her descriptions of the war but evokes the changing atmosphere as the war escalates. Her research is extensive but the reader is swept up in the story and never feels this is a history lesson.  The author has said that she based Helen on a compilation of several actual women.  For additional information the reader may be interested in learning more about Dickey Chapelle, one of the first female war correspondents in Vietnam.

Goodreads says "Tatjana Soli paints a searing portrait of an American woman's struggle and triumph in Vietnam, a stirring canvas contrasting the wrenching horror of war and the treacherous narcotic of obsession with the redemptive power of love.  Readers will be transfixed by this stunning novel of passion, duty and ambition among the ruins of war."  Well said.

The Lotus Eaters is definitely a fine selection for book clubs and others wanting an alternative to light summer reading.

 

"The Kitchen House" by Kathleen Grissom

 

Our recent book club selection was The Kitchen House by Kathleen Grissom.

The author has taken the long route to her first novel.  She was born in Canada, became a nurse, then an ad executive at a graphics company in Manhattan.  She eventually relocated with her husband to an old plantation in rural Virginia.  Her website recounts "As we restored our old plantation home, I began to research the history of our home and the land that surrounded it.  Then I discovered the notation "Negro Hill" on an old map.  Unable to determine the story of its origin, local historians suggested that it most likely represented a tragedy.  To this day I am uncertain why the notation captured me so, but fascinated, I gradually set aside everything else to pursue the research and writing of the story that is now The Kitchen House.  

The book tells a fascinating story of an 18th century orphaned Irish girl who becomes an indentured servant in a plantation's kitchen house. The slaves become her loving adopted family but her color sets her apart.  She eventually goes to work in the big house where circumstances lead to tragedy.  The book details daily life on the plantation for the slaves and owners as well as creating a fast-paced emotional story.  This is an excellent choice for book clubs as it created lots of lively discussion.

"Juliet, Naked" by Nick Hornby

No, there aren't any naked women in "Juliet, Naked" by British author, essayist, songwriter and screenwriter Nick Hornby.  Annie is 39 years old living in a small village with Duncan, a nerdy professor. They've been in a 15 year relationship that has fallen into boring platonic sameness.  Then there's the reclusive Tucker Crowe, an aging Dylanesque rocker whose real life doesn't live up to or deserve Duncan's obsessive adoration.  

Hornby creates honest, flawed but likable characters and is funny with a slightly sardonic wit.  As a reviewer on Goodreads said, Juliet, Naked is a reflective follow-up to one of Hornby's most famous novels, High Fidelity.  

There is something deceptively simple about Hornby's prose.  He captures his characters emotions so you feel you know these people and can relate to them (even though sometimes they seem a little eccentric). 

Annie is telling her therapist, Malcolm, that she doesn't want to "be quite content with my unhappy, boring, frustrating marriage.  I want more....Malcolm stared hard at the carpet, which was presumably where this conundrum had ended up somehow.  "Well" he said. "I'm not sure that's it."  "So what is it? If it's not that?"  "You said you don't want to be quite content."  "Yes. With. A. Rubbish. Life."  She said it as if he were deaf...." "But people who are quite content don't have a rubbish life," he said."

Get to know these characters and all their idiosyncrasies.  Find out what happens to Annie when she decides to leave Duncan. You will find yourself engrossed.  Then try Nick Hornby's other books which include High Fidelity, About A Boy, Fever Pitch and Slam.