This Week in Books and Media

This was an indulgent reading kind of week for me since three favorite authors came out with their newest books.  They all do fit within the parameters of my reading award but I tend to leave these authors to others since I like them too much to effectively judge the quality.  If you like urban fantasy, be sure to try Jim Butcher and Patricia Briggs. Other favorites are J.D. Robb and Gail Carriger.  Try them, you might like them:-)

Books:

Changes by Jim Butcher - There are big changes in store for Harry (hence the name Changes) this time around.  It seems like the bad guys keep getting badder and I am not sure what Jim will do for the next novel. Maybe a nice apocalypse?

Changeless by Gail Carriger - Book two in this series starts out with our newly married couple learning to live together in wedded bliss.  Of course, this being a novel, happy and carefree can't last. This time the magical beings are being affected by a strange field that is damping magic and making the ghosts go away forever. Added to that, there are werewolf pack dynamics to work through and some new quirky characters to decipher.

Freeze Frame by Peter May - I hadn't read this author before and thought that the mystery did pretty well as a stand-alone. I wouldn't have known why the main character was working his way through unsolved murders if I hadn't read a review but that didn't detract significantly from the story.  I cannot tell you what a joy it was to read a mystery with clues. Clear, well-defined clues that actually made it possible to solve the murder. I did figure out who did it but by the time I did, the clues were pretty clearly showing the way. I also liked the main character and his interactions with the townspeople. I did not, however, like the girlfriend but maybe the reason she was so awful was explained in a previous book.  I will definitely look for more in this series.

Kindred in Death by J.D. Robb - Eve and Roarke are back again in their gazillionth mystery. Robb never fails to please with her complex characters. These are sexy novels and the crimes are usually pretty brutal so I wouldn't suggest this for anyone who likes clean, cozy mysteries but I love these. 

Devils in Exile by Chuck Hogan - Home from the war, Neal Maven is working dead-end jobs and feels marginalized and unappreciated for his service to his country. When a mysterious stranger with flashy clothes offers a way to use the skills he learned in Iraq to take down drug mavens and dealers he jumps at the chance.  Soon he is living the good life and things couldn't be going better but when he falls for his boss's lady and the rest of the team starts to get careless he decides he wants out, which is when the real trouble begins.  I have said before I need my thrillers to be action packed and full of adrenaline for the entire book. This delivered from start to finish with a fully fleshed out main character who was never cliched or predictable.  

Tempest Rising by Nicole Peeler - This was a fun new series if you like paranormal fiction. It had a slightly different twist and a much more venerable heroine than one usually sees in the paranormal genre.  The heroine knows she is different from most people and after finding a dead body in the sea one night, she suddenly discovers there is a whole world of supernatural folk living in the same town.  She and the hot vampire (of course) band together to solve the mystery and also discover they have romantic feelings for each other. There are some very clear clues about the direction the next book in the series will take.

Silver Borne by Patricia Briggs - I stayed up late last night to finish this one. I love the Mercy Thompson series.  The main character is a shape shifting coyote who owns her own garage and repairs cars for a living. Her next door neighbor is a hot werewolf (of course), his teenage daughter and his pack. Also populating this world are the Fae, vampires, etc....  Mercy spends her spare time flirting with the werewolf, solving mysteries and trying to navigate pack politics.  Start with Moon Called if you want to read this series.

DVD's:

The Men Who Stare At Goats - This was an odd movie. I liked it but it didn't completely keep my attention. I had to watch this twice because I would find myself wandering off at various points to clean the kitchen or text someone. I even did it the second time when I was making a point to watch.

Something About You by Julie James

Assistant U.S. Attorney Cameron Lynde just wanted a little pampering when she checked into a luxury hotel to wait for her floors to be refinished. Instead she ended up witnessing a murder. And to make matters better, she finds that her nemesis, FBI agent Jack Pallas, has been assigned to the case. Now they have to work together to solve the murder before the killer finds out she is a witness.

This romance is such a treat and a refreshing example of a novel that creates believable smart characters who behave in logical straightforward ways. When Cameron witnesses a murder, she does not argue that she can take care of herself but instead gratefully accepts the protection of the FBI. In spite of a misunderstanding from their past, they are professional and work together without petty bickering. When there is a chance to clear up the misunderstanding, the characters take it. They build a relationship built on communication, trust and respect which is what makes this contemporary romantic suspense novel a winner.

2010 Support Your Library Challenge

I almost always get my books from the library as opposed to purchasing them. It used to be monitoring your library account was a little tricky so I sympathized with people who said they didn't use the library because it was hard to keep track of the books. Now with reminders that books are almost due and the advent of online account access, it is easy. In this economy it is also a smart choice to use the library.

For that reason I thought I would let you all know about the 2010 Support Your Library Challenge hosted by the Home Girl's Book Blog. I've already read 52 library books this year. How many have you read?

The Rules are simple:

1. Anyone can join. You don't need a blog to participate.

--Non-Bloggers: Post your list of books in the comment section of the wrap-up post. To learn how to sign up without having a blog, click here.

2. There are four levels:

--The Mini – Check out and read 25 library books.

--Just My Size – Check out and read 50 library books.

--Stepping It Up – Check out and read 75 library books.

--Super Size Me – Check out and read 100 library books.

(Aim high. As long as you read 25 by the end of 2010, you are a winner.)

3. Audio, Re-reads, eBooks, YA, Young Reader – any book as long as it is checked out from the library count. Checked out like with a library card, not purchased at a library sale.

4. No need to list your books in advance. You may select books as you go. Even if you list them now, you can change the list if needed.

5. Crossovers from other reading challenges count.

6. Challenge begins January 1st thru December, 2010.

7. When you sign up under Mr. Linky, put the direct link to your post where your library books will be listed. Include the URL to this post so that other viewers can find this fun challenge. If you’d prefer to put your list in the sidebar of your blog, please leave your viewers the link to the sign up page. Again, so viewers can join the challenge too.

Finished!

Here are the book I finished this week. Mind you, this doesn't even begin to scratch the surface...

A Matter of Class by Mary Balogh - wonderful straightforward romance novel. The plot twist wasn't particularly tricky but I do so love it when characters really like each other. This is a novella so it was a bit spare but I appreciated it after a couple of my other reads.

Highlanders Homecoming by Melissa Mayhue - I enjoyed this romance but I found the fantasy world building to be a bit convoluted. Reading the series in order might have made for a better reading experience but it didn't completely work as a stand-alone novel.

Be Careful What You Pray For by Kimberla Lawson Roby - I hadn't read this author before and had no idea what to expect. Who know there was that much sinning in a pastors life? Very dramatic. This one kind of reminded me of a Danielle Steel novel.

Crawlspace: A Home Repair is Homicide Mystery by Sarah Graves - Perfectly serviceable mystery but it didn't really capture my imagination.

Lessons in French by Laura Kinsale - This is an outstanding author with a gift for romance. I wish this novel would have been edited a bit more and it would have been a top 10 novel for the year. Still, the characters are delightful and their actions perfectly suit their respective characters.

Next Best Thing by Kristan Higgins - This is another one that just barely missed the mark for me. I thought the premise was intriguing and I loved the hero. If only the heroine had been a little quicker on the uptake and had treated my boy just a little better.
Ordinary Thunderstorms by William Boyd - An adrenaline novel that just didn't get my adrenaline pumping.

State of Decay by James Knapp - This one was interesting. I thought the idea of one's body to be used as a soldier zombie after death was very inventive. The plot ended up becoming a little too convoluted but it was definitely worth reading. I think this will be an author to watch in the future.

Progress Report

As I have started reading for my new award committee I have not yet had a WOW moment resulting in a solid nomination for my committee. This makes me a little sad since other committee members have started nominating books left and right. I have HUGE lists built and I am confident that somewhere on them are some fabulous new titles that are award worthy but I want one now! I just started the new Bernard Cornwell and have high hopes for it. Wish me luck.

On the bright side, I have found some friends to help me pre-screen books so that my huge lists aren't quite so, well, huge. I will be fun to hear what friends think of the books on my list. If I decide to read them, it will also be fun to see how our genre reading tastes match (or don't). At the very least, by the end of the year I should be able to match them up with really great books I know they will love.

Simple Meme: What Book Are You Reading Now?

Here's a simple Meme...answer the following questions.

1. What Book Are You Reading Now?
2. Why did you choose it?
3. What's the best thing about it?
4. What's the worst thing about it?

Here are my answers...

1. Use of Weapons by Iain Banks
2. I am reading it as part of my paranormal romance challenge from my Goodreads.com group.
3. Discovering a brilliant new-to-me author.
4. The book doesn't really fit the "paranormal romance" parameters.
   

Book Groups

I did not turn in a blog post yesterday since I have not yet figured out how to attach picture in blogger via my phone and I have never liked the way my blog posts and pictures turned out trying to do it using my email. Next week maybe I will have all my technological issues worked out but in the meantime, here is an unsuccessful picture I took of my cat, who is decidedly not thrilled about flash photography.

Now on to book related topics....

In the past year I have gone from not being involved in any personal book discussion groups to being involved with two. The first group is run by a close friend and his wife and makes some attempt to actually discuss the book before the socializing starts so from now on I will refer to it as my "serious" book club. The other is called the Martini Book Club and the group really does care more about what martini we will be serving than what book we are reading.

Last night I went to my "serious" book club and we discussed Lucky Jim by Kingsley Amis. I have to admit I procrastinated when reading this book so I only finished the first fourth of it but I have always enjoyed the British sense of humor and will finish this book in the near future. One of the other participants said she felt like the author nailed life in academia and I think she is probably right and this is a major strength of the novel.

In a couple of weeks I will be hosting the Martini Book Club and, since I hosted, I also get to pick the book. I decided to select one of the American Library Association Reading List Award winners for us to try. I selected the 2010 Women's Fiction award winner Very Valentine: A Novel by Adriana Trigiani. This is a pretty easy group to pick a book for because we don't actually spend much (if any) time discussing the book so I don't need to look for books with "issues" and could select based on the fun factor. Also since the last few books fell into the genre "messed up childhood memoirs" I thought something lighter might be nice as well. Now all I need is to find a fun new martini to introduce to the group. If you have a fabulous recipe please let me know!

The next book I need to read is Housekeeping by Marilynne Robinson since it is the Kansas City Public Library BIG READ title for this year. I will keep you posted on this upcoming event so you can also participate.

That was a short break.....

Well, after a short break it looks like I am back on the book award circuit again. I just was offered an appointment on The American Library Association Reading List. "The Reading List seeks to highlight outstanding genre fiction that merit special attention by general adult readers and the librarians who work with them. The eight genres currently included in the council’s considerations are adrenaline titles (suspense, thrillers, and action adventure); fantasy, historical fiction; horror; mystery; romance; science fiction; and women’s fiction."

Assuming my boss approves the appointment I will get to wallow in genre books this time around.

Renaming the Blog

Now that I am finished with my book award committee (see photo for committee members hard at work) and assuming I do not get assigned to a new one, I think I should find a new focus for my blog. I used to post my concert/event/personal musings on my Myspace blog but since so many friends have dropped off the site my blog posts have devolved into more of a personal journal instead of a blog to share with others. So.... I could conceivably post about some of those topics over here. Not the dating woes perhaps, but the things I wouldn't care if library users know about me.

Since I working more at the part-time job again it looks like I might have time between reference questions to post some entries and, hopefully, won't be so burnt out that I can't try to post a bit more often than I have been lately. I think having a "schedule" might be beneficial to keeping the blog posts flowing.

Here is my proposed schedule:

Sunday - I am hoping to have more variety in my social life than I managed in past years so on Sundays I will try to post about a weekend event or activity that I have indulged in. If I spent the weekend in my PJ's with a stack of books, I will blog about that too.

Monday - Library related blog post, which leaves it pretty wide open. It can be a program at the library, a new library innovation, something to share from another blog, etc...

Tuesday - Musings

Wednesday - Picture of the Week

Thursday - Book review, poetry or a book list.

Friday - I will try to get Free e-book Friday back up and running.

Saturday - Free Day

Disclaimer: This is not a set-in-stone schedule, just something to keep me motivated.

Weekend Reading

Maybe I went a little overboard ordering some "fun" books?

Notable Books Council 2010 Award Winners

I just got back from serving for my fourth and final year on the ALA adult Notable Books Council Committee. I am pleased to announce the winners of the Notable Books Council book award. (My favorites are starred.)

2010 Notable Books List: the best in fiction, non-fiction and poetry

The 2010 selections for the Notable Books List—a source for very good and very important fiction, non-fiction and poetry for the nation’s adult readers—have been announced by the Reference and User Services Association (RUSA).

Since 1944, the Notable Books Council has annually selected a list of 25 very good, very readable and at times very important fiction, nonfiction and poetry books for the adult reader. Books may be selected because they possess exceptional literary merit; expand the horizons of human knowledge; make a specialized body of knowledge accessible to the non-specialist; have the potential to contribute significantly to the solution of a contemporary problem; and/or present a unique concept.

The winners were selected by the Notable Books Council, a group of RUSA members and readers’ advisory experts from around the country. This year’s committee included Alicia Ahlvers, chair, Kansas City Public Library; Susie Brown, Shaker Heights Public Library; Julie Elliott, Indiana University-South Bend; Lucy Lockley, St. Charles City-County Library District; Valerie Taylor, Lewisville Community Library; Elizabeth Olesh, Nassau Library System; Jessica Pigza, New York Public Library; Nancy Pearl; A. Issac Pulver, Saratoga Springs Public Library; Heather Robideaux, Fayetteville Public Library; Nonny Schlotzhauer, Pennsylvania State University; and Andrea Slonosky.

The 2010 winners are:

Fiction:

Anthony, Jessica. The Convalescent. McSweeney’s. 9781934781104 - my nomination

Rovar Pfiegman, bus dwelling meat salesman, fulfills his destiny as the last of the last of his clan, in this oddly imaginative tale.

*Atwood, Margaret. The Year of the Flood: A Novel. Doubleday/Nan A. Talese. 9780385528771

In the near future, two women survive an apocalyptic event in a queasily enthralling work.

Baker, Nicholson. The Anthologist: A Novel. Simon & Schuster. 9781416572442. - my nomination

A charming failure, poet Paul Chowder struggles to regain his muse and his girlfriend while watching deadlines slip by.

Chaon, Dan. Await Your Reply: A Novel. Ballantine. 9780345476029.

This chilling exploration of the modern meaning of identity follows three people on the fringes of society.

Cleave, Chris. Little Bee: A Novel. Simon & Schuster. 9781416589631. - my nomination

The compelling voice of a refugee illuminates the life-changing friendship between two women that began with a horrifying encounter on a secluded Nigerian beach.

Dexter, Pete. Spooner. Grand Central. 9780446540728.

A boy struggles to navigate the vagaries of the world with the lifelong guidance of his stepfather in this funny and heartbreaking tale.

Harding, Paul. Tinkers. Bellevue Literary Press. 9781934137123.

In this lyrical novel, the life of a dying man is examined through the smallest moments of time and memory.

Li, Yiyun. The Vagrants: A Novel. Random. 9781400063130.

The execution of a dissident woman reverberates through her small town in the aftermath of China’s Cultural Revolution.

McCann, Colum. Let the Great World Spin: A Novel. Random. 9781400063734.

Phillipe Petit’s highwire walk between the Twin Towers provides the backdrop for this rich portrait of the unlikely connections among a group of New Yorkers in the 1970s.

Morrison, Toni. A Mercy: A Novel. Knopf. 9780307264237

Four women—white, mixed race, black and Native American—become a makeshift family under the care of a “good” man in colonial America.

*Powers, Richard. Generosity: An Enhancement. Farrar, Straus & Giroux. 9780374161149.

In this postmodern indictment of the biotech industry, a student’s unnerving happiness seems to hold the key to banishing despair from the human genetic code.

Tóibín, Colm. Brooklyn: A Novel. Scribner. 9781439138311.

A young Irish woman faces heart-wrenching decisions in this unabashedly romantic and deceptively simple story of immigration and belonging.

Non-Fiction:

Cullen, Dave. Columbine. Twelve. 9780446546935.

This fine work of investigative journalism challenges the myths and misconceptions of the Columbine tragedy.

*Eggers, Dave. Zeitoun. McSweeney’s. 9781934781630.

This powerful account explores the devastation of post-Katrina New Orleans through the eyes of a Syrian-American who remained and endured the resulting chaos and confusion.

Finkel, David. The Good Soldiers. Farrar, Straus & Giroux. 9780374165734.

An embedded reporter describes the human cost paid by an Army battalion on the streets of Iraq in language that is searing, visceral and immediate.

*Grann, David. The Lost City of Z: A Tale of Deadly Obsession in the Amazon. Doubleday. 9780385513531.

An intrepid reporter sets out to uncover the mysterious fate the last of the great Victorian explorers in this thrilling adventure.

*Guibert, Emmanuel. The Photographer: Into War-torn Afghanistan with Doctors Without Borders. First Second. 9781596433755.

Using mixed visual media, this stunning memoir vividly depicts the struggles and accomplishments of a humanitarian mission in an unforgiving terrain.

Holmes, Richard. The Age of Wonder: How the Romantic Generation Discovered the Beauty and Terror of Science. Pantheon. 9780375422225.

This lively, stellar group biography animates the engrossing accounts of the research that inspired a sense of awe in poets and scientists alike.

Keefe, Patrick Radden. Snakehead: An Epic Tale of the Chinatown Underworld & the American Dream. Doubleday. 9780385521307.

Human trafficking and its subsequent effects on the American economy and social structures are documented in this fast-paced panoramic expose.

McDougall, Christopher. Born to Run: A Hidden Tribe, Superathletes, and the Greatest Race the World Has Never Seen. Knopf. 978-0307266309.

One journalist’s quest to discover the secrets of the reclusive Tarahumara Indians leads to an exciting and dangerous endurance race.

Norman, Michael and Elizabeth M. Tears in the Darkness: The Story of the Bataan Death March and Its Aftermath. Farrar, Straus & Giroux. 9780374272609.

In-depth, brutal and moving this narrative provides multiple perspectives into a tragic WWII episode in the Philippines.

Salisbury, Lainey and Aly Sujo. Provenance: How a Con Man & A Forger Rewrote the History of Modern Art. Penguin. 9781594202209.

This enthralling page-turner describes how archivists uncovered one of the most extensive frauds in recent art history.

Small, David. Stitches: A Memoir. Norton. 9780393068573.

Stark drawings give voice to the horrors of a child who find redemption in art while growing up in a repressed and disturbed family.

Thompson, Nicholas. The Hawk and the Dove: Paul Nitze, George Kennan, and the History of the Cold War. Holt. 978-0805081428.

The remarkable half-century friendship and rivalry between two influential strategists who helped shape American policy is brought to life in this insightful dual biography.

Poetry:

*Alexie, Sherman. Face. Hanging Loose Press. 9781931236706.

Autobiographical poems experimenting with various styles and forms explore childhood, fatherhood, and the trials, perks and humor of minor celebrity.

Dunn, Stephen. What Goes On: Selected and New Poems 1995-2009. Norton. 978039306775

Completely accessible poems written in ordinary language deal with cats, love, barfights, desire, melancholia and relationships.

Kaite's Book Meme

My friend, Kaite, put together this Book Meme and another friend continued it. Since I don't like to be left out of the fun, I thought I would join in:)

1. Which book has been on your shelves the longest?
A copy of the Bible my Grandparents gave me. It still smells like smoke from my house fire but it was the one book I dragged out of that mess determined to salvage.

2. What is your current read, your last read and the book you’ll read next?
Current Read: Lover Enshrined by J.R. Ward
Last Read: Little Bee by Chris Cleve
Next Book: Doghead by Morten Ramsland

3. What book did everyone like and you hated?
I love quirky characters so everyone told me I would LOVE Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil. Really, not-so-much...

4. Which book do you keep telling yourself you’ll read, but you probably won’t?
I have a huge list of books I want to read on amazon.com and goodreads.com but I don't have anything that I will "make" myself read. Life is too short and there are way too many great books out there. I'm not going to force myself to read something I don't want to.

5. Which book are you saving for “retirement?”
I don't precisely "save" books. I just get new ones I am dying to read and so the poor lonely formerly in-demand unread ones get stored in a to-be-read list or down in my basement.

6. Last page: read it first or wait till the end?
I don't usually read the ending first unless I am reading and am ambivalent about a book and trying to decide if I should finish it. Then I might jump around and read several sections to see if picks up.

7. Acknowledgements: waste of ink and paper or interesting aside?
Not something I usually read but they do serve a purpose so I don't think they are a waste.

8. Which book character would you switch places with?
Amelia Peabody in the Elizabeth Peters books. I can't think of anything more cool than being a Victorian explorer in Egypt with all of those discoveries left to find.

9. Do you have a book that reminds you of something specific in your life (a person, a place, a time)?
Black Beauty and The Witch of Blackbird Pond. I remember reading them over and over again on a road trip to Washington D.C. with my family when I was in 5th or 6th grade.

10. Name a book you acquired in some interesting way.
Does getting large shipments of books from the publisher every week for the last three years to support my book award reading count as interesting?

11. Have you ever given away a book for a special reason to a special person?
Every book I give to someone (not counting a few lately) has been a book that I put a lot of thought into. I try very hard to give people what they want, not what I want.

12. Which book has been with you to the most places?
No one book. I always travel with new-to-me books that I leave scattered behind me like confetti, just waiting to be found by a new reader.

13. Any “required reading” you hated in high school that wasn’t so bad ten years later?
Not really.

14. What is the strangest item you’ve ever found in a book?
One of my staff found bacon in a book but I can't say that I have ever found anything that unusual.

15. Used or brand new?
I don't care. As long as they don't smell funny or look too grimy, I don't much care what kind of shape the book is in. It's all about the words, baby!

16. Stephen King: Literary genius or opiate of the masses?
I am keeping Gretchen's answer on this one. "Can't he be both?"

17. Have you ever seen a movie you liked better than the book?
Jaws

18. Conversely, which book should NEVER have been introduced to celluloid?
There are so many, where to start? Ummm...Dune was pretty darn awful.

19. Who is the person whose book advice you’ll always take?
The two people with the closest taste in books to me are Gretchen and my sister and I almost always like what they are reading. Kaite, on the other hand, has very different taste but she has mad librarian readers advisory skillz, so when she is wearing her RA hat I always listen.

The Cellist of Sarajevo by Steven Galloway

This novel is inspired by an actual event during the 1992 siege of Sarajevo, a cellist watches as 22 of his neighbors are gunned down. His decision to play the cello in the square every day for 22 days to honor the dead profoundly impacts the lives of four ordinary citizens struggling not only to survive but retain their humanity.

This was the novel (so far) this year, that has most profoundly impacted me. It was an enormously touching novel and it brought back the horror of a time that I can still remember. I still remember being stunned and horrified that the entire world was sitting back and doing nothing. Sadly, most governments have not changed, as events in Darfur so vividly illustrate.

The Road by Cormic McCarthy

I am a firm believer that the books people love reflect their "story". That part of their life that they need told and retold in a variety of ways, not as an instant therapy tool but just as something intimate and recognizable to them at the deepest levels. This is why being able to effectively recommend books to people will always be more of an art than a science.

What I have noticed lately is that my story has changed. Until a few years ago, the stories I loved, that touched me, all revolved about building family, not always biological, but family all the same, the quirkier the better. Lately though, the stories that have blindsided me aren't about that. Some still have elements of family but most are about solitude. The main character is learning self-reliance and self-knowledge. Consider last years favorite (and if I might brag, picked before Oprah and the Pulitzer committee discovered it) The Road. It is about family but also about endurance, solitude and ultimately, hope.

The Song of Everlasting Sorrow: A Novel of Shanghai by Wang Anyi

The Song of Everlasting Sorrow: A Novel of Shanghai by Wang Anyi opens with exquisite descriptions of Shanghai and its distinct and mysterious longtang - neighborhoods that are as much a character as Wang Qiyao, a former beauty queen whose life has gone sadly awry. Wang Oiyao, comes together with people, only to drive them away in the end, unaware of her impact on others as her country is on its people.

Physics of the Impossible: A Scientific Exploration Into the World of Phasers, Force Fields, Teleportation, and Time Travel by Michio Kaku

In Physics of the Impossible, author Michio Kaku explores the fantastical world of science fiction and tells us exactly which of these “impossible” inventions are actually possible, at least according to our understanding of the current laws of physics. While most of these will not be seen in our lifetime, this intensely readable text makes it fun to imagine the possibilities that await future generations. Kaku does an outstanding job of making physics understandable and enjoyable, a remarkable feat for a science writer.

Going off the Notable Grid

I will be spending quite a bit of my blogging energy on a blog for the Jewish Literature program so I may not be posting as often (at least for a while). If any of you have something significant to say about the authors, history, trivia or books on the Jewish Literature program be sure to let me know. I can use the creative help and inspiration.

And now for my ALA fun reads!

Little Brother by Cory Doctorow - I finally finished reading my free downloaded copy of this book and then promptly went out and bought a hard copy for my 18 year old nephew. This young adult novel has a lot to say about the 9/11 America, homeland security and personal freedom. It is fast paced, has engaging characters and is suitable (and recommended) for adults as well as teens.

The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss - This fantasy novel was named "best fantasy novel of 2007" by the American Library Association "The Reading List" Award committee. It follows the life of Kvothe, living incognito, after his larger than life heroism goes horribly wrong. There are daring rescues, evil villains and enough magic to satisfy the most demanding of readers.

Rainbows End by Vernor Vinge - If you like hard science SF, this is an author you will want to try. Rainbows End is set in 2025 and the main character has been "cured" of Alzheimers. Starting over, he must learn to use the new technology close enough to what he remembers to be familiar but difficult to navigate and learn. His granddaughter is determined to teach him in spite of his curmudgeonly way. In the meantime he stumbles into a secret plot to take over the world....or maybe not? I really enjoyed it and I do want to try more of his Hugo award winning novels.

Outstanding Nonfiction

Well, I have read a whole lot of books in the past three weeks and I have a few that I thought I would highlight. Of course, the three non-fiction titles I am still thinking about are ones in which I learned that a) the pharmaceutical industry is evil, b) the nutrition/food industry, while not evil, is confused and misguided and c) we are throwing away huge amounts of money on humanitarian AIDS relief that pretty much guarantees that it will be used in the least effective way possible. Sigh.....

The first book was Our Daily Meds: How the Pharmaceutical Companies Transformed Themselves into Slick Marketing Machines and Hooked the Nation on Prescription Drugs by Melody Petersen. This was an absolutely riveting, yet very disturbing look at how drugs get approved, marketed and prescribed and I ended up going home and analyzing every drug I take and reassessing my medical and prescription options.

Book number two was In Defense of Food: An Eater's Manifesto by Michael Pollan and although it can be read by itself, I think of it as a companion piece to last year's book, The Omnivore's Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals. If you have been with me for a while you might remember me talking about how this book has made me start looking at my food purchasing choices in terms of how far they have travelled and to start making a conscious effort to buy local whenever possible. In Defense is the book that is getting me to look at all of the low-fat, prepackaged foods I purchase (all of which are supposedly "good for me"). His basic premise (and yes, you still need to all go out and read the book!) is: "Eat food. Not too much, mostly plants and don't eat anything your great, great Grandparents wouldn't recognize as food." I am now toying with shopping at farmer's markets unless I have no other choice, starting a garden and making everything from scratch including my own yogurt.

And finally, The Wisdom of Whores: Bureaucrats, Brothels, and the Business of AIDS by Elizabeth Pisani. The author started life as a journalist and later, became an an epidemiologist researching AIDS. She has worked for a variety of NGO's and has seen the programs around the world that have worked and those that have not. Again she has more to say but the important point I took from this book is that until the US (and other countries) stop putting restrictions on this money, especially in not allowing a program to give out condoms and needles, the battle to stop the HIV virus will be a losing one. Our programs are failing because we as a nation cannot be realistic about what prevents AIDS. AIDS prevention does not work when we focus on stopping premarital, extra-marital sex and drug use. It works when we focus on preventing UNSAFE sex and the sharing of needles!

All three of these were eyeopening and fascinating books that I highly recommend reading.

Tomorrow....the fun titles I read on the flight home.

Copyright and Free Books

One of the programs I attended while at the ALA conference was on copyright and online piracy. During the program, writer and editor, Eric Flint, mentioned that the Baen publishing response to this is to offer selected titles for free download and the rest of their library at reasonable (lower than paperback) prices. You can read their whole position statement about this and I tend to agree with it but the part that excited me was that FREE books are available, which is the equivalent of librarian crack. Best of all, with no DRM attached to the downloads you can share with others who might like the books. Of course, supporting your favorite authors by buying the books or asking your local library buy copies is encouraged as well.

For all intents and purposes Eric Flint's portion of the panel discussion is on the Baen website. I do wish I had written down a couple of "quotables" from Vernor Vinge and Cory Doctorow as well but I was too busy listening.

Entertainment Weekly Best Books

The New Classics: Books
The 100 best reads from 1983 to 2008

Well, I have read about 2/3 of these and some I loved, some I was underwhelmed by and a couple I didn't finish. All-in-all not a bad list. I loved The Road, preferred Murakami's Kafka on the Shore and couldn't get through The Stone Diaries to save my life so always remember, everything is subjective. Never feel bad when you don't agree with the "experts".