Have you read any good books lately? Please share your book recommendations here.

 

From Robert Kelly, Collections Librarian: Iris Murdoch's, The Unicorn (1963), is perhaps her most tantalizing novel. Although perhaps not as well known as The Sea, The Sea, which won the Booker Prize in '78, or The Black Prince ('73), it provides the reader with all the Murdoch trademarks in spades: complex characterizations; inter-personal and familial strife based on often unconventional relationships; "mythic", universalized themes, and a setting to rival any pulp mystery. At times, the language might be a bit overwrought for some and the characters more than a tad unbelievable, but do suspend your disbelief and you'll fall into the world of The Unicorn like quicksand.

From the Reading Across Rhode Island program, which recommends that all Rhode Islanders read and discuss The Elephant in the Living Room:  The Difficult Issues of Aging, by Sara Gruen. This sensitive book examines the increasing number of losses and life changes faced by older adults and their families and explores ways of coping with the multiple transitions individuals face during this challenging time.

From Patricia Lothrop: In The Uncommon Reader Alan Benett (The History Boys) imagines that the current monarch develops a surprising, and absorbing, late-life interest in literature. This witty and whimsical novella isn't just for Anglophiles, but if you've read enough Briti Lit to find the notion of a possibly bomb-bearing Barbara Pym novel exquisitely amusing, all the better.

From Helen Burnham:  I recommend The Namesake (2003) by Jhuma Lahiri, a Rhode Islander, and Suite Francaise (2006) by Irene Nemirovsky.

From Ben N: I recently read Looming Tower, by Lawrence Wright. It was a fast and informative read, and I couldn't put it down. It's a great primer on Al-Qaeda from its inception through 9/11. It's well worth the read.

From David S.: "I used to live in New York's New Jersey suburbs, and I found that Harlan Coben's mystery solver Myron Bolitar, sports agent, was so real.  He and his screwball group of friends and sports agents cruise around Manhattan and New Jersey in a very believable way.  I really enjoyed Myron Bolitar in Promise Me, by Harlan Coben.

Another Reader concurs:  "If you liked the Robert Parker "Spenser" novels, try Harlen Coben's "Myron Bolitar" series.  These books are very well written and engaging."

Roxann from the Redwood staff adds to mystery recommendations:  An Incomplete Revenge, by Jacqueline Winspear, is the fifth book in the Maisie Dobbs series.  Maisie Dobbs is a a psychologist/investigator.  This is a very well written mystery, gripping and enthralling.  Set in England in the late 1920's and early 30's, it is not  your average mystery.  i suggest reading the first book, Maisie Dobbs, to understand her background.  This series is a staff favorite.

Roxann also recommends Still Life: A Three Pines Mystery, by Louise Penny.  This is the first in a series of mysteries featuring Inspector Gamache of the Surete of Quebec.  It is set in the outskirts of Montreal, and is very well written.  This is another staff favorite.

From Maris in the Special Collections Department:  Perhaps eighteen months ago I began Ellis Peters' series of 12th century mysteries set in Shrewsbury, Shropshire, England and centered on the Benedictine monk, Brother Cadfael.  There are 20 volumes in the series, some of which have been presented by PBS with Derek Jacobi portraying Cadfael.  They are not overly long.

As literary works they are meaty, containing salt.  My late college professor, David Littlefield, so characterized worthy literature.  The author's immersion in the patterns and vocabulary of her time's language is so comfortable one wants to hear the mysteries read aloud.  Derek Jacobi achieved much the same facility with the language.  The pages are to savor.

In spite of the overtly Catholic environment, the author and the characters have a much more ethical perspective.  Right and wrong is deeply personal to Cadfael, and filtered very much through the realities of his own life's experiences.

The end of the 20th novel has brought a definite feeling of loss.  What can another reader propose in the series' place?

From Jan:  I read Doris Kearns Goodwin's Team of Rivals for the Redwood Biography Book Club.  I loved it.  Lincoln's humanity and his generosity to both his colleagues and enemies is overwhelming.  As a result of this book I have re-cast my thinking on who was the greatest American...and Lincoln gets my vote.  Others in the Book Club recommended David Donald's biography of Lincoln for those who really want more early childhood and pre-presidential years.

From Mrs. Y:  Rosemary Mahoney's Down the Nile in a Fisherman's Skiff is a travel book as well as a personal memoir.  The author is very amusing, and I found myself laughing out loud.  She certainly doesn't let obstacles stand in her way!

From Angela F:  I just read Marie Antoinette: The Journey.  This biography was very well researched and a fascinating read.  I recommend it.

From AKS:  I just finished laughing my way through Elizabeth Gilbert's Eat, Pray, Love. It was a very honest autobiographical story of the author's struggle to recover from a messy divorce.  It was funny, self-deprecating, and uplifting.

From Meredith:   I just read Atonement, and I loved it. It's a love story crossed with a mystery crossed with a story about WWII. The characters were finely developed, and the descriptions of rural pre-War England and the war-torn French countryside were fantastic. Ian McEwan is a beautiful writer. Read it before you see the movie!

From GRM:  Wally Lamb's I Know This Much Is True was great. It's a really engaging story about a pair of twins born in two different decades (one the last baby to be born on December 31st, the other the first on January 1st.) One twin is a paranoid schizophrenic, the other normal, and this is the story of their lives and families and a small town and a family mystery: who is their father? It's a lengthy book, but worth the read.

Do you have concerns about your teenagers?  Our Children's Librarian Marilyn highly recommends Yes, Your Teen is Crazy, by Michael J. Bradley. "This is a very honest how-to book for overwhelmed and overworked parents who have given up parenting to become friends/peers with their children.  I suggest it to grandparents for their adult children who are struggling with teenage grandchildren.  It is a funny, blunt, and reassuring book."