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What Are We Reading? July 28, 2014

Check out what we read recently.

  • Virginia:
    • Cop Town by Karin Slaughter (Fiction). “Atlanta 1974 : A cop killer is on the loose in the city. This brutal book is not for the squeamish. Two police women try to deal with the hostility & derision of the male police force as they attempt to hunt down the killer.”
    • Redeeming the Dream by David Boies and Ted Olson (Nonfiction). “Brilliant lawyers Boies & Olson team up to describe the 4 year 7 month mission to overturn California’s Prop 8, eventually arguing the case before the Supreme Court to find for marriage equality.”
    • Indefensible by Lee Goodman (Fiction). “Prosecutor Nick Davis is involved in 4 murders when he suddenly realizes that he could be the chief suspect in one of them, Wracked by paranoia, he decides that it is up to him to solve the murders to protect himself & his family. Very well written.”
    • The Devil in the Marshalsea by Antonia Hodgson (Fiction). “Set in London in 1727 : Tom Hawkins is thrown into the Marshalsea debtors prison & finds that he must solve the murder of one of the prisoners if he is ever going to find his way out of the brutal gaol. A vivid description based on fact of the inhumanity of the 18th century penal system. This is the debut novel by an editor of Little Brown UK.”
  • Louise:
    • “I am just finishing Let’s Pretend This Never Happened: A Mostly True Memoir by Jenny Lawson. This audio book (also available in book form) is a hoot! Ms. Lawson, The Bloggess, has a very zany sense of humor. She writes about her life growing up in Wall, Texas, which had an estimated population of 200 in 2000. Growing up in small town Texas with a taxidermist father and very little money is actually very funny when looked at through Ms. Lawson’s eyes.”
    • “I just finished reading We Are Water by Wally Lamb. This is a very good novel. Do not read this if you are looking for a light beach read. Do pick this up if you like: psychological fiction, a New England setting, and some dramatic twists and turns.”
    • “I recently listened to the audio book Truth And Beauty: A Friendship by Ann Patchett.
      Fans of Ms. Patchett will enjoy the fact that she is the reader of the audiobook. This moving and sad memoir about Patchett’s friendship with Lucy Grealy, was gripping from start to finish. This book is worth reading in conjunction with Grealy’s Autobiography of a Face, a title that several of our staff have read and enjoyed. Grealy, a talented writer, struggled with Ewing’s sarcoma, and surgeries that left her physically and emotionally scarred.”
  • Jan: “I just finished The Race Underground: Boston, New York, and the Incredible Rivalry That Built America’s First Subway by Doug Most. If you’re tired of the old Red Sox/ Yankees rivalry, here’s a fascinating new one for you to pick sides on.”
  • Pat A.: Pat has just finished The Unexpected Waltz by Kim Wright and is currently reading A Long Time Gone by Karen S. White.
  • Laura:
    • I Don’t Care if We Never Get Back: 30 Games in 30 Days on the Best Worst Baseball Road Trip Ever by Ben Blatt and Eric Brewster. “Ben Blatt, a recent Harvard graduate, loves baseball. His friend, Eric Brewster, hates it. Somehow, though, Eric finds himself riding along with Ben after the latter works out an algorithm which allows them to see 30 full baseball games at every major league stadium in the United States (and Canada). Coming up against rainouts, time zone problems, and each other’s clashing personalities, the two embark on a very long yet extremely rushed road trip. The baseball games are nothing more than a side note in this funny memoir, as two friends become closer and simultaneously annoyed with one another. I personally have a goal to hit every major league stadium, though I prefer to reach it a little more leisurely than these two! Baseball stadium loving fans will appreciate this book, but the book is accessible to those who don’t know the differences between OBP, OPS, Batting Average, and ERA.”
    • Landline by Rainbow Rowell. “Georgie McCool, the owner of the best name ever, is excited that she and her television writing partner, Seth, are finally getting their sitcom picked up by a network. The problem is that they must turn in scripts around the Christmas holidays and she had made plans to go to Nebraska with her husband, Neal, and two daughters to visit Neal’s mother. She explains the situation to Neal, angrily who leaves for Nebraska with the two girls and not Georgie. Georgie, unsure if her marriage is over, takes solace at her mother’s house, and is unable to get in touch with Neal on his cell phone. She ends up using her mother’s landline and calls his mother’s landline, only to find out that she’s talking to a version of Neal from the days leading up to their engagement. As she continues her conversations with the Neal of the past and recalls the early days of their relationship, Georige learns more about herself and Neal. The premise does not do this book justice. It was a fun, quick read. Rowell writes in a very pleasant style while also taking a realistic look at marriage. It’s hopefully not giving away too much of a spoiler to state that all ends well, but not all is tied up in a neat bow, which is the case in real life. Rowell, who started out as an adult novelist, has made quite a splash recently with her Young Adult novels, Eleanor and Park and Fangirl, and she continues to delight with this adult novel.”
    • We Were Liars by E. Lockart. “This seems to be the It Young Adult Book for 2014, having received much press from the publisher and various review sources well before the publication date. In late April Library Reads listed it as the number 1 book published in May being discussed by librarians. Since I’m the former Young Adult (YA) librarian (and current Young Adult book selector) for the library, and a lover of YA books, I was pretty curious and downloaded the e-book version. Cadence Sinclair Eastman, “Cady”, is a scion of the extremely wealthy Massachusetts based Sinclair family (think a smaller version of the Kennedys). Every year, the extended family gathers on Beachwood, the small island owned by Cady’s grandparents. Through the years, Cady becomes closer with her two cousins, Johnny and Mirren, and Johnny’s not quite step cousin, Gat (the nephew of his mother’s long term boyfriend). In Cady’s fifteenth summer on the island, she falls in love with Gat, and has a mysterious accident that leaves her partly amnesiac. Two years later, Cady reconvenes with her relatives on Beachwood as she tries to piece together what happened. It’s obvious from the beginning that Cady is an unreliable narrator, and as the reader moves through the haunting and eerie story, it’s on her to separate the truth from fantasy. This book is a good suggestion for those who liked The Sixth Sense, Fight Club, Shutter Island, and most of Jodi Picoult’s titles mainly for the twist endings. Others may also enjoy the literary allusions sprinkled throughout the novel, with references to classic fairy tales and a subtle reference to Shakespeare’s King Lear
  • Maureen:
  • Nancy W.: “I just finished Calling Me Home by Julie Kibler. Very good book, but a tearjerker.”
  • Doreen: Doreen just finished reading Orphan Train by Christina Baker Kline and is listening to The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri. “Both excellent!”
  • Gerry C.:
  • Mary V.: Mary is reading The Fire Dance by Helene Thurston.
  • Lisa: “I have started the 1st Diary of a Wimpy Kid book (by Jeff Kinney). An excerpt from the newest upcoming one was so funny that I figured I’d see what I’d been missing.”
  • Bela: Bela has just started the book A Long Way Home by Saroo Brierly. “It seems very interesting.”
  • Pat O.: Pat is reading The Pink Suit by Nicole Mary Kelby. “It’s historical fiction about a young seamstress who designed clothing for First Lady Jackie Kennedy.” Pat also enjoyed North of Boston by Elizaeth Elo.
  • Marialice:
  • Jeanette:
  • Todd:
    • “I’m reading NOS4A2 by Joe Hill . It has a little bit of everything- horror, suspense, fantasy, and adventure.”
    • “This weekend, I’m going to watch Big Ass Spider! I’m pretty sure that this will be an entertaining horror film.”
  • Kate: “I’ve been on a YA dystopia kick, reading the high school’s summer book, Ready Player One (Ernest Cline), and Suzanne Collins now classic The Hunger Games. Very enjoyable!”

This Week’s Best Seller Lists — July 27, 2014

Here are links to the best seller lists for the week of July 27, 2014.

This Week’s Best Seller Lists — July 20, 2014

Here are links to the best seller lists for July 20, 2014

What Are We Reading? July 16, 2014

Check out what we read recently.

Summer Reading For Adults

Kids do it. Teens do it. Even lots of in betweens do it. Let’s do it. Let’s have Adult summer Reading! Here’s the real song And, why not? Why shouldn’t the grown ups get a chance to read in the summer and enter to win fabulous prizes? That’s why we at the Waltham Public Library have introduced a summer reading program for our library users aged 18 and up.

We will give out fabulous prizes to randomly selected winners at the end of August. It’s easy! It’s fun! Fill out one of our entry forms at one of our circulation desks or go to this website: Click here

Not sure what to read? Come see our display of Great Books You May have Missed in the front lobby on the first floor. Try our Beach Reads display in the front lobby. Check out our Pinterest page for inspiration.

two women reading

Walter Dean Myers, 1937-2014

“We need to tell kids flat out reading is not optional” -Walter Dean Myers

To learn more about this acclaimed author of children’s and young adult books go to his website. Below is a list of the Walter Dean Myers materials that the library owns. Click on the title to see whether the item is available and/or to request the item.

All the right stuff

Angel to angel : a mother’s gift of love

At her majesty’s request : an African princess in Victorian England

Autobiography of my dead brother [sound recording]

Autobiography of my dead brother

Bad boy : a memoir

Bad boy : a memoir

The beast

Big city cool : short stories about urban youth

Blues journey

The blues of Flats Brown

Brown angels : an album of pictures and verse

Carmen : an urban adaptation of the opera

Center stage : one-act plays for teenage readers and actors

The Cruisers

The Cruisers : checkmate

Dope sick

The dream bearer

Fast Sam, Cool Clyde, and Stuff

The Glory Field

Handbook for boys : a novel

Harlem : a poem

Here in Harlem : poems in many voices

Invasion [sound recording]

I’ve seen the promised land : the life of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Jazz [sound recording]

The journal of Biddy Owens : the Negro leagues

Kick

Lockdown

Looking like me

Un Lugar entre las sombras

Malcolm X : by any means necessary : a biography

Malcolm X : a fire burning brightly

Monster

Mr. Monkey and the Gotcha Bird : an original tale

Muhammad Ali : the people’s champion

Patrol : an American soldier in Vietnam

The pick-up game : a full day of full court

Riot

Scorpions [sound recording]

Shooter

Slam!

Slam!

Somewhere in the darkness

Soul looks back in wonder

Street love

Sunrise over Fallujah

Toussaint L’Ouverture : the fight for Haiti’s freedom

What they found : love on 145th street

posted by Lisa