illness & disease

 

The next Genre Reading Group meeting is Tuesday, April 27th on Zoom at 6:30pm and the topic up for discussion is international authors.  The third row of Shelf Care has some selections to choose from if you don’t know where to start: https://oneallibrary.org/adults---reading-recommendations

Last night, on GRG’s one year Zoomiversary, we met to discuss illness & disease, a timely topic in the age of COVID. Here are the books we read:

The Plague Cycle: The Unending War Between Humanity and Infectious Disease by Charles Kenney

A vivid, sweeping history of mankind’s battles with infectious disease, for readers of the #1 New York Times bestsellers Yuval Harari’s Sapiens and John Barry’s The Great Influenza.

Zombie Makers: True Stories of Natures Undead by Rebecca Johnson

Are zombies real? As far as we know, dead people do not come back to life and start walking around, looking for trouble. But there are things that can take over the bodies and brains of innocent creatures, turning them into senseless slaves. Meet nature's zombie makers―including a fly-enslaving fungus, a suicide worm, and a cockroach-taming wasp―and their victims.

Wuhan Diary: Dispatches from a Quarantined City by Fang Fang and Michael Berry

From one of China’s most acclaimed and decorated writers comes a powerful first-person account of life in Wuhan during the COVID-19 outbreak.

The Great Influenza: The Story of the Deadliest Pandemic in History by John Barry

The strongest weapon against pandemic is the truth. Read why in the definitive account of the 1918 Flu Epidemic. 

Rabid: A Cultural History of the World’s Most Diabolical Virus by Bill Wasik

The most fatal virus known to science, rabies-a disease that spreads avidly from animals to humans-kills nearly one hundred percent of its victims once the infection takes root in the brain. In this critically acclaimed exploration, journalist Bill Wasik and veterinarian Monica Murphy chart four thousand years of the history, science, and cultural mythology of rabies.

Vaccines Did Not Cause Rachel’s Autism: My Journey as a Vaccine Scientist, Pediatrician, and Autism Dad by Peter Hotez

In 1994, Peter J. Hotez's nineteen-month-old daughter, Rachel, was diagnosed with autism. Dr. Hotez, a pediatrician-scientist who develops vaccines for neglected tropical diseases affecting the world's poorest people, became troubled by the decades-long rise of the influential anti-vaccine community and its inescapable narrative around childhood vaccines and autism.

Vaccine Nation: America’s Changing Relationship with Immunization by Elena Conis

With employers offering free flu shots and pharmacies expanding into one-stop shops to prevent everything from shingles to tetanus, vaccines are ubiquitous in contemporary life. Yet, while vaccination rates have soared and cases of preventable infections have plummeted, an increasingly vocal cross section of Americans have questioned the safety and necessity of vaccines. In Vaccine Nation, Elena Conis explores this complicated history and its consequences for personal and public health.

Deadliest Enemy: Our War Against Killer Germs by Michael Osterholm

A leading epidemiologist shares his "powerful and necessary" (Richard Preston, author of The Hot Zone) stories from the front lines of our war on infectious diseases and explains how to prepare for global epidemics.

The Sound of a Wild Snail Eating by Elisabeth Tova Bailey

Winner of the William Saroyan International Prize for Writing Winner of the John Burroughs Medal Winner of the National Outdoor Book Award in Natural History Literature

In a work that beautifully demonstrates the rewards of closely observing nature, Elisabeth Tova Bailey shares an inspiring and intimate story of her encounter with a Neohelix albolabris—a common woodland snail. While an illness keeps her bedridden, Bailey watches a wild snail that has taken up residence on her nightstand. As a result, she discovers the solace and sense of wonder that this mysterious creature brings and comes to a greater understanding of her own place in the world.

Together in a Sudden Strangeness: America’s Poet’s Respond to the Pandemic edited by Alice Quinn

In this urgent outpouring of American voices, our poets speak to us as they shelter in place, addressing our collective fear, grief, and hope from eloquent and diverse individual perspectives.

An Elegant Defense: The Extraordinary New Science of the Immune System, A Tale in Four Lives by Matt Richtel

Drawing on his groundbreaking reporting for the New York Times and based on extensive new interviews with dozens of world-renowned scientists (including Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases), Matt Richtel has produced a landmark book, equally an investigation into the deepest riddles of survival and a profoundly human tale that is movingly brought to life through the eyes of his four main characters, each of whom illuminates an essential facet of our “elegant defense.”

GENERAL DISCUSSION

Pale Rider: The Spanish Flu of 1918 and How It Changed the World by Laura Spinney

In this gripping narrative history, Laura Spinney traces the overlooked pandemic to reveal how the virus travelled across the globe, exposing mankind's vulnerability and putting our ingenuity to the test. As socially significant as both world wars, the Spanish flu dramatically disrupted -- and often permanently altered -- global politics, race relations and family structures, while spurring innovation in medicine, religion and the arts.

Doomsday Book by Connie Willis

For Kivrin, preparing an on-site study of one of the deadliest eras in humanity's history was as simple as receiving inoculations against the diseases of the fourteenth century and inventing an alibi for a woman traveling alone. For her instructors in the twenty-first century, it meant painstaking calculations and careful monitoring of the rendezvous location where Kivrin would be received. But a crisis strangely linking past and future strands Kivrin in a bygone age as her fellows try desperately to rescue her. In a time of superstition and fear, Kivrin—barely of age herself—finds she has become an unlikely angel of hope during one of history's darkest hours.

Lost City of the Monkey God: A True Story by Douglas Preston

The #1 New York Times and Wall Street Journal bestseller, named one of the best books of the year by The Boston Globe and National Geographic: acclaimed journalist Douglas Preston takes readers on a true adventure deep into the Honduran rainforest in this riveting narrative about the discovery of a lost civilization -- culminating in a stunning medical mystery.

Preventing the Next Pandemic: Vaccine Diplomacy in a Time of Anti-Science by Peter Hotez

The last five years saw a significant return of epidemic infectious disease, culminating in COVID-19. In our new post–COVID-19 world, how do we prevent future illnesses by expanding scientific and vaccine diplomacy and cooperation, especially to combat the problems that humans have brought on ourselves?

Blue Marble Health: An Innovative Plan to Fight Diseases of the Poor Amid Wealth by Peter Hotez

Clear, compassionate, and timely, Blue Marble Health is a must-read for leaders in global health, tropical medicine, and international development, along with anyone committed to helping the millions of people who are caught in the desperate cycle of poverty and disease.

Inside Bill’s Brain: Decoding Bill Gates (requires a Netflix subscription, check your streaming/online rental channels for additional availability)

Take a trip inside the mind of Bill Gates as the billionaire opens up about those who influenced him and the audacious goal’s he’s still pursuing.

Hidden Valley Road: Inside the Mind of an American Family by Robert Kolker

The heartrending story of a midcentury American family with twelve children, six of them diagnosed with schizophrenia, that became science's great hope in the quest to understand the disease.

The Mosquito: A Human History of Our Deadliest Predator by Timothy Winegard

A pioneering and groundbreaking work of narrative nonfiction that offers a dramatic new perspective on the history of humankind, showing how through millennia, the mosquito has been the single most powerful force in determining humanity’s fate.

Being Mortal: Medicine and What Matters in the End by Atul Gawande

In his bestselling books, Atul Gawande, a practicing surgeon, has fearlessly revealed the struggles of his profession. Here he examines its ultimate limitations and failures―in his own practices as well as others'―as life draws to a close. Riveting, honest, and humane, Being Mortal shows how the ultimate goal is not a good death but a good life―all the way to the very end.

The Diving Bell and the Butterfly: A Memoir of Life in Death by Jean-Dominique Bauby

In 1995, Jean-Dominique Bauby was the editor-in-chief of French Elle, the father of two young childen, a 44-year-old man known and loved for his wit, his style, and his impassioned approach to life. By the end of the year he was also the victim of a rare kind of stroke to the brainstem. After 20 days in a coma, Bauby awoke into a body which had all but stopped working: only his left eye functioned, allowing him to see and, by blinking it, to make clear that his mind was unimpaired. Almost miraculously, he was soon able to express himself in the richest detail: dictating a word at a time, blinking to select each letter as the alphabet was recited to him slowly, over and over again. In the same way, he was able eventually to compose this extraordinary book.

Hidden Killers of the English Home (requires an Amazon Prime Video subscription, Check your streaming/online rental channels for additional availability)

We all know that “an Englishman’s home is his castle.” British historian Suzannah Lipscomb beckons us to get off the sofa and look closely at legendary structures from Edwardians, Victorian, Tudor, and even modern times. The myth of the historic English home, with its legendary comforts and warmth, quickly yields to a nightmare of infestations, toxic materials, and unsafe construction practices.

Radium Girls: The Dark Story of America’s Shining Women by Kate Moore

Written with a sparkling voice and breakneck pace, The Radium Girls fully illuminates the inspiring young women exposed to the “wonder” substance of radium, and their awe-inspiring strength in the face of almost impossible circumstances. Their courage and tenacity led to life-changing regulations, research into nuclear bombing, and ultimately saved hundreds of thousands of lives...

Made into a feature film in late 2020. Requires a Netflix subscription, check your streaming/online rental channels for additional availability.

Suspected origins of the plague doctor mask shape:

https://scienceblogs.com/retrospectacle/2008/01/08/bird-hats-and-wax-pants-antipl

 

 

 

 

GRG Recap - Audiobooks

What an eclectic bunch! Every month, I am astounded anew at how fearless my readers are in getting out of their comfort zone. While audiobooks are a lifeline for me, spending at least two hours in the car each day, this genre was a reach for those who don't have the time or circumstances conducive to listening to an entire book, especially if they are limited to CDs.

Of course, there are other audio options: downloadable digital audiobooks and Playaways! Visit the Library's website at www.eolib.org and click "Downloadable Collection" to learn what devices are compatible with Overdrive Media Console and how to get started. The Library is happy to offer downloadable collection demonstrations by appointment (205-445-1121). Playaways are self-contained digital audiobooks. The books are preloaded on a small MP3-player-sized device that is incredibly portable and versatile. Listen to the book using earbuds, portable speakers, or simply plug it in to your car's audio port! No software to download, no CDs to keep up with, easy peasy lemon squeezy!

May's topic is nonfiction sportswriting and the meeting will be on May 31st at 6:30pm. There is a selection of books on display at the Reference Desk on the second floor, but your are free to make your own selection. Also, I am happy to assist you in selecting a book if the number of choices is overwhelming!

Now, on to the list of audiobooks we discussed!

The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch and Jeffrey Zaslow (Narrated by Erik Singer)

A lot of professors give talks titled "The Last Lecture." Professors are asked to consider their demise and to ruminate on what matters most to them. And while they speak, audiences can't help but mull the same question: What wisdom would we impart to the world if we knew it was our last chance? If we had to vanish tomorrow, what would we want as our legacy?

When Randy Pausch, a computer science professor at Carnegie Mellon, was asked to give such a lecture, he didn't have to imagine it as his last, since he had recently been diagnosed with terminal cancer. But the lecture he gave--"Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams"--wasn't about dying. It was about the importance of overcoming obstacles, of enabling the dreams of others, of seizing every moment (because "time is all you have...and you may find one day that you have less than you think"). It was a summation of everything Randy had come to believe. It was about living.

In this book, Randy Pausch has combined the humor, inspiration and intelligence that made his lecture such a phenomenon and given it an indelible form. It is a book that will be shared for generations to come.

The Help by Kathryn Stockett (Narrated by Jenna Lamia, Bahni Turpin, Octavia Spencer, and Cassandra Campbell)

Three ordinary women are about to take one extraordinary step.

Twenty-two-year-old Skeeter has just returned home after graduating from Ole Miss. She may have a degree, but it is 1962, Mississippi, and her mother will not be happy till Skeeter has a ring on her finger. Skeeter would normally find solace with her beloved maid Constantine, the woman who raised her, but Constantine has disappeared and no one will tell Skeeter where she has gone.

Aibileen is a black maid, a wise, regal woman raising her seventeenth white child. Something has shifted inside her after the loss of her own son, who died while his bosses looked the other way. She is devoted to the little girl she looks after, though she knows both their hearts may be broken.

Minny, Aibileen’s best friend, is short, fat, and perhaps the sassiest woman in Mississippi. She can cook like nobody’s business, but she can’t mind her tongue, so she’s lost yet another job. Minny finally finds a position working for someone too new to town to know her reputation. But her new boss has secrets of her own.

Seemingly as different from one another as can be, these women will nonetheless come together for a clandestine project that will put them all at risk. And why? Because they are suffocating within the lines that define their town and their times. And sometimes lines are made to be crossed.

In pitch-perfect voices, Kathryn Stockett creates three extraordinary women whose determination to start a movement of their own forever changes a town, and the way women—mothers, daughters, caregivers, friends—view one another. A deeply moving novel filled with poignancy, humor, and hope, The Help is a timeless and universal story about the lines we abide by, and the ones we don’t.

The Weed That Strings the Hangman's Bag: A Flavia de Luce Mystery by Alan Bradley (Narrated by Jayne Entwistle)

From Dagger Award–winning and internationally bestselling author Alan Bradley comes this utterly beguiling mystery starring one of fiction’s most remarkable sleuths: Flavia de Luce, a dangerously brilliant eleven-year-old with a passion for chemistry and a genius for solving murders. This time, Flavia finds herself untangling two deaths—separated by time but linked by the unlikeliest of threads.

Flavia thinks that her days of crime-solving in the bucolic English hamlet of Bishop’s Lacy are over—and then Rupert Porson has an unfortunate rendezvous with electricity. The beloved puppeteer has had his own strings sizzled, but who’d do such a thing and why? For Flavia, the questions are intriguing enough to make her put aside her chemistry experiments and schemes of vengeance against her insufferable big sisters. Astride Gladys, her trusty bicycle, Flavia sets out from the de Luces’ crumbling family mansion in search of Bishop’s Lacey’s deadliest secrets.

Does the madwoman who lives in Gibbet Wood know more than she’s letting on? What of the vicar’s odd ministrations to the catatonic woman in the dovecote? Then there’s a German pilot obsessed with the Brontë sisters, a reproachful spinster aunt, and even a box of poisoned chocolates. Most troubling of all is Porson’s assistant, the charming but erratic Nialla. All clues point toward a suspicious death years earlier and a case the local constables can’t solve—without Flavia’s help. But in getting so close to who’s secretly pulling the strings of this dance of death, has our precocious heroine finally gotten in way over her head?

City of Masks: A Cree Black Thriller by Daniel Hecht (Narrated by Anna Fields)

Introducing Cree Black, a parapsychologist with a haunted past.

The 150-year-old Beauforte House, located in the Garden District in New Orleans, has some secrets. When Lila Beauforte takes up residence in her ancestral home as an adult she begins to see some of those secrets literally come to life. Terrified by an insidious and ultimately violent presence, Lila is losing her characteristic tenacity. Fearing for his sister's sanity, Ronald Beauforte reluctantly calls Cree Black for help.

Based out of Seattle, Cree Black and her partner take on the world beyond our senses. Detectives of the spirit, the so-called ghostbusters are able to conjure ghosts with the hope of exorcising them out of people's lives. A natural empath with a Ph.D. in psychology, Cree is susceptible to the emotional vulnerability of her clients. As she gets closer to the truth, the proverbial bones in the closet of the prestigious New Orleans family come crashing down around them, and Cree must fight to keep her own ghosts from destroying her.

In this first of a series novels featuring Cree Black, Daniel Hecht has created an entirely plausible heart-stopping ghost thriller. Hecht is a master storyteller and this intelligent, unusual take on the supernatural tale combines a traditional mystery with a compassionate exploration of life's real emotional passages and existential questions. Relying on the science of parapsychology to spine-tingling effect, he brings to life a remarkably compelling character in Cree Black-as well as the ghosts she confronts.

Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother by Amy Chua (Narrated by the author)

All decent parents want to do what's best for their children. What Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother reveals is that the Chinese just have a totally different idea of how to do that. Western parents try to respect their children's individuality, encouraging them to pursue their true passions and providing a nurturing environment. The Chinese believe that the best way to protect your children is by preparing them for the future and arming them with skills, strong work habits, and inner confidence. Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother chronicles Chua's iron-willed decision to raise her daughters, Sophia and Lulu, her way-the Chinese way-and the remarkable results her choice inspires.

Here are some things Amy Chua would never allow her daughters to do:

• have a playdate

• be in a school play

• complain about not being in a school play

• not be the #1 student in every subject except gym and drama

• play any instrument other than the piano or violin

• not play the piano or violin

The truth is Lulu and Sophia would never have had time for a playdate. They were too busy practicing their instruments (two to three hours a day and double sessions on the weekend) and perfecting their Mandarin. Of course no one is perfect, including Chua herself. Witness this scene:

"According to Sophia, here are three things I actually said to her at the piano as I supervised her practicing:

1. Oh my God, you're just getting worse and worse.

2. I'm going to count to three, then I want musicality.

3. If the next time's not PERFECT, I'm going to take all your stuffed animals and burn them!"

But Chua demands as much of herself as she does of her daughters. And in her sacrifices-the exacting attention spent studying her daughters' performances, the office hours lost shuttling the girls to lessons-the depth of her love for her children becomes clear. Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother is an eye-opening exploration of the differences in Eastern and Western parenting- and the lessons parents and children everywhere teach one another.

I am the Messenger by Markus Zusak (Narrated by Marc Aden Gray)

protect the diamonds

survive the clubs

dig deep through the spades

feel the hearts

Ed Kennedy is an underage cabdriver without much of a future. He's pathetic at playing cards, hopelessly in love with his best friend, Audrey, and utterly devoted to his coffee-drinking dog, the Doorman. His life is one of peaceful routine and incompetence until he inadvertently stops a bank robbery.

That's when the first ace arrives in the mail.

That's when Ed becomes the messenger.

Chosen to care, he makes his way through town helping and hurting (when necessary) until only one question remains: Who's behind Ed's mission?

A 2005 Michael L. Printz Honor Book and recipient of five starred reviews, I Am the Messenger is a cryptic journey filled with laughter, fists, and love.

The Swan Thieves by Elizabeth Kostova (Narrated by Trent Williams, Anne Heche, Erin Cottrell, Sarah Zimmerman, and John Lee)

Andrew Marlow, a psychiatrist, has a perfectly ordered life--solitary, perhaps, but full of devotion to his profession and the painting hobby he loves. This order is destroyed when the renowned painter Robert Oliver attacks a canvas in the National Gallery of Art and becomes Marlow's patient.

When Oliver refuses to talk or cooperate, Marlow finds himself going beyond his own legal and ethical boundaries to understand the secret that torments this silent genius, a journey that will lead him into the lives of the women closest to Robert Oliver and toward a tragedy at the heart of French Impressionism.

Moving from American museums to the coast of Normandy, from the late nineteenth century to the late twentieth, from young love to last love, THE SWAN THIEVES is a story of obsession, the losses of history, and the power of art to preserve human hope.

The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield (Narrated by Bianca Amato and Jill Tanner)

Sometimes, when you open the door to the past, what you confront is your destiny.

Reclusive author Vida Winter, famous for her collection of twelve enchanting stories, has spent the past six decades penning a series of alternate lives for herself. Now old and ailing, she is ready to reveal the truth about her extraordinary existence and the violent and tragic past she has kept secret for so long. Calling on Margaret Lea, a young biographer troubled by her own painful history, Vida disinters the life she meant to bury for good. Margaret is mesmerized by the author's tale of gothic strangeness -- featuring the beautiful and willful Isabelle, the feral twins Adeline and Emmeline, a ghost, a governess,a topiary garden and a devastating fire. Together, Margaret and Vida confront the ghosts that have haunted them while becoming, finally, transformed by the truth themselves.

Along for the Ride by Sarah Dessen (Narrated by Rachel Botchan)

Ever since her parents began fighting, Auden has been unable to sleep at night. Now, spending a summer at a charming beach town with her father and his new family, she has to find new places to pass the time she spends awake. And so she meets Eli, a fellow insomniac who becomes her nighttime guide. Together, they embark on parallel quests: for Auden, to experience the carefree teenage life she has missed; for Eli, to come to terms with the death of a friend. In her trademark blockbuster-style, Sarah Dessen creates a powerful and irresistible story of two people learning how to connect.

Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston (Narrated by Ruby Dee)

One of the most important works of twentieth-century American literature, Zora Neale Hurston's beloved 1937 classic, Their Eyes Were Watching God, is an enduring Southern love story sparkling with wit, beauty, and heartfelt wisdom. Told in the captivating voice of a woman who refuses to live in sorrow, bitterness, fear, or foolish romantic dreams, it is the story of fair-skinned, fiercely independent Janie Crawford, and her evolving selfhood through three marriages and a life marked by poverty, trials, and purpose. A true literary wonder, Hurston's masterwork remains as relevant and affecting today as when it was first published -- perhaps the most widely read and highly regarded novel in the entire canon of African American literature.

From the Library of Congress website:

"The Zora Neale Hurston Plays at the Library of Congress present a selection of ten plays written by Hurston (1891-1960), author, anthropologist, and folklorist. Deposited as typescripts in the United States Copyright Office between 1925 and 1944, most of the plays remained unpublished and unproduced until they were rediscovered in the Copyright Deposit Drama Collection in 1997. The plays reflect Hurston's life experience, travels, and research, especially her study of folklore in the African-American South. Totaling 1,068 images, the scripts are housed in the Library's Manuscript, Music, and Rare Book and Special Collections divisions."

Happy reading,

Holley

excellent audiobooks for adults

via the Editor's Choice Media section of Booklist magazine!

Audio for Adults

The Brutal Telling. By Louise Penny. Read by Ralph Cosham. 2009. 13hr. Blackstone, CS, $72.95 (9781433297083); CD, $105 (9781433297090).

Cosham’s confident, thoughtful reading captures this compelling tale filled with dark secrets, seductive prose, complex characterizations, and a multilayered plot. Cosham’s mesmerizing performance is sure to touch listeners’ intellect, heart, and soul.

The Coral Thief. By Rebecca Stott. Read by Simon Prebble. 2010. 9hr. Tantor, CD, $69.99 (9781400143382).

Prebble transports listeners to a richly detailed post-Napoleonic Paris, teeming with adventure and scientific discovery and debate. His polished reading underscores the dark, dangerous tone, bringing out Stott’s gorgeous imagery and elegant language.

The Eyre Affair. By Jasper Fforde. Read by Susan Duerden. 2010. 12hr. Books on Tape, CD, $90 (9781415966648).

Plucky Special Operative Thursday Next sets off to rescue Jane Eyre and preserve the iconic narrative in this literary romp. Duerden’s matter-of-fact take on the reality-bending events is most delightful.

Fault Lines. By Nancy Huston. Read by Edwina Wren. 2010. 10hr. Bolinda, CD, $87.95 (9781742140926).

Structured as a reverse recitation of four generations of hidden family secrets, this is read by Wren, whose voice fluidly morphs between genders, time shifts, and accents in this emotional saga.

Freedom. By Jonathan Franzen. Read by David Ledoux. 2010. 25hr. Macmillan/AudioGO, CD, $99.95 (9780792773214).

Oprah’s newest book-club pick is a natural for audio. Ledoux does a terrific job with the massive plot, making the best-seller accessible through his steady, consistent reading.

The Girl Who Fell from the Sky. By Heidi W. Durrow. Read by Emily Bauer and others. 2010. 7hr. HighBridge, CD, $29.95 (9781598879230).

Centering on Rachel, the daughter of a black serviceman and a Danish mother, this powerful novel is told from multiple viewpoints, aptly recorded by three readers, with Bauer playing Rachel. The narrators eloquently capture the characters’ emotions and subtle maturation.

The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest. By Stieg Larsson. Read by Simon Vance. 2010. 20hr. Books on Tape, CD, $40 (9780307735010).

Vance’s masterful reading of this final title in the acclaimed trilogy highlights the complex plot, breakneck pace, and irresistible characters (good and bad). This dark story of abuse, violence, conspiracy, and corruption is flavored by Vance’s outstanding reading and authentic accents. To appreciate the full impact of his performance, begin with the first title, also available from Books on Tape. (Top of the List winner—Audio.)

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks. By Rebecca Skloot. Read by Cassandra Campbell and Bahni Turpin. 2010. 12.5hr. Books on Tape, CD, $100 (9780307712523).

Campbell calmly reads this compelling account of Henrietta Lacks, whose cells were removed and cultured without her knowledge and used for medical research. Campbell personalizes Lacks’ story, with Turpin’s rich voice portraying Henrietta’s adult daughter. The book is the 2010 Booklist Top of the List Adult Nonfiction title.

Juliet. By Anne Fortier. Read by Cassandra Campbell. 2010. 20hr. Books on Tape, CD, $40 (9780307701930).

Julie Jacobs’ deceased aunt bequeaths her a passport and the key to a safe-deposit box in Italy, prompting Julie to embark on a journey of self-discovery. Campbell seamlessly switches among characters, both contemporary and fourteenth-century Americans and Italians.

Rain Gods. By James Lee Burke. Read by Tom Stechschulte. 2009. 16hr. Recorded Books, CS, $113.75 (9781440727047); CD, $123.75 (9781440727054).

Aging lawman Hackberry Holland is anticipating retirement until a truckload of Thai women is slaughtered in his district. Stechschulte moves smoothly and convincingly between Holland’s gruff been-to-hell-and-back growl and a criminal mastermind’s textured voice.

The Scent of Rain and Lightning. By Nancy Pickard. Read by Tavia Gilbert. 2010. 9hr. Blackstone, CS, $65.95 (9781441747716); CD, $90 (9781441747723).

Most of the action takes place in a rural Kansas town shimmering with secrets, and Gilbert brings emotion and finesse to her performance, superbly differentiating the richly drawn characters as they weave in and out of the unfolding plot.

Secrets of Eden. By Chris Bohjalian. Read by Mark Bramhall and others. 2010. 11.5hr. Books on Tape, CD, $100 (9780307705051).

The murder of an abused wife and the apparent suicide of her husband leave their 15-year-old daughter devastated and the family pastor suffering. Four excellent readers, including Rebecca Lowman as the teen, contribute to this taut mystery.

Wolf Hall. By Hilary Mantel. Read by Simon Slater. 2009. 23hr. Macmillan/AudioGO, CD, $129.95 (9780792771159).

Historical-fiction fans will enjoy this novel told through commoner Thomas Cromwell’s viewpoint. The characters ring true, from British gentry and royalty to Italian and French diplomats, and all read with convincing accents and shifting tones.

June is National Audiobook Month!

I just can't stand to be in the car without an audiobook anymore. I have little interest in any of the local radio stations so audiobooks are the way to go! They are perfect for planes, trains, and automobiles!

Drop by the library and check one out today in celebration of National Audiobook Month! We have a collection in the adult, teen, and children's departments! Also, visit our website and click on the link for Downloadable Audio for titles you can listen to on your computer, iPod, or other Mp3 device!

Some of my favorite audiobooks include (but are by no means limited to):

The Swan Thieves by Elizabeth Kostova

The Teacher's Funeral by Richard Peck

Year of Wonders by Geraldine Brooks

The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein

Dragonsong by Anne McCaffrey

His Majesty's Dragon by Naomi Novik

Remarkable Creatures by Tracy Chevalier


What are your favorite audiobooks?

Happy listening!
Holley

mid-year best in mystery!

Booklist magazine has put out a couple of great lists that should be of interest to all of our mystery readers (and listeners!) out there!  

The first list, Top 10 Best Crime Novels, features some great titles, check 'em out!

Cold in Hand by John Harvey

The Dawn Patrol by Don Winslow

Exit Music by Ian Rankin

Gone Tomorrow by Lee Child

Liars Anonymous by Louise Ure

Mine All Mine by Adam Davies

A Rule Against Murder by Louise Penny

Secret Speech by Tom Rob Smith

Spade & Archer: the Prequel to Dashiell Hammett's The Maltese Falcon by Joe Gores

When Will There Be Good News by Kate Atkinson

_______________________________

TOP 10 BEST CRIME NOVEL DEBUTS

Amberville by Tim Davys

Black Water Rising by Attica Locke

Echoes From the Dead by Johan Theorin

Final Theory by Mark Alpert

Nuclear Winter Wonderland by Joshua Corin

Old City Hall by Robert Rotenberg

Rules of the Game by Leonard Downie

Sacrifice by S. J. Bolton

Singularity by Kathryn Casey

Takeover by Lisa Black

_____________________________

For all the audiobook fans out there, have a peek at the TOP 10 CRIME NOVEL AUDIOBOOKS!

Blue Heaven by C. J. Box

Exit Music by Ian Rankin

Gas City by Loren D. Estleman

The Genius by Jesse Kellerman

The Ghost War by Alex Berenson

The Girl of His Dreams by Donna Leon

Lady Killer by Lisa Scottoline

The Maltese Falcon by Dashiell Hammett

The Monster of Florence by Douglas Preston and Mario Spezi

Swan Peak by James Lee Burke

___________________________

Have you read or listened to any of these?  What did you think?

Happy reading!

Holley