Linda Reads: The Beekeeper’s Ball by Susan Wiggs

beeThe Beekeeper’s Ball  by Susan Wiggs is book two of the Bella Vista Chronicles.  Book One, The Apple Orchard was previously reviewed here.  It is best to read book one first.

Thirty year old Isabel Johansen is a talented chef who had to suddenly leave culinary school under traumatic circumstances.  She returned to her beloved home in Archangel to transform the family estate of a beautiful hacienda, apple orchards, gardens, and beehives to a destination cooking school.  It’s a huge undertaking, especially since she is also planning her half-sister Tess’s wedding.  But a stranger shows up, and Isabel’s carefully ordered plans are put into jeopardy.

Cormac O’Neill is an award winning, world famous journalist.  Unbeknown by Isabel, he’s on his way to Bella Vista to meet Isabel’s grandfather, Magnus, to help write Magnus’ life story – a powerful, moving story of the Danish Resistance during World War II, the two women who shared his life, and the friend who helped him go to America and build his apple orchards.

Ms. Wiggs beautifully weaves the two plot lines – Magnus’s prior life, and the present day struggles of Isabel trying to build her cooking school, plan her sister’s wedding and overcome a painful episode that forced her to quit culinary school.  A sweet and understated romance blooms between Isabel and Cormac as they both learn to overcome their painful pasts.

Once again, Ms. Wiggs has written a visually appealing, moving story about love, lost, forgiveness and family.  Her incredible descriptions bring you right into the middle of World War II and smoothly transition to the lush, fragrant hills of present day California.  This book ends with the promise of an exciting story regarding Isabel and Tess’ father’s untimely death in the next installment of Bella Vista.

 

 

 

 

 

Librarians as Detectives

detective

Librarians often wear many hats during the course of their workday.  Recently, I donned my detective hat to solve a mystery.

An old photograph of Charles Lindbergh and his wife Anne Morrow Lindbergh was found in our bookdrop.  We had no way of knowing who it belonged to.  Stamped on the back of the photograph were the words, “Valuable Original.  Must Be Returned.”   There was an address in New York City also listed on the back for the Bettmann Archives and I sent the photo off to them with a letter explaining how we found it.  The envelope was returned one week later as “Not Deliverable”.

 

So I did a little searching and found some fascinating information.  The Bettmann Archive is named after Dr. Otto Bettmann, a librarian from Berlin, Germany.  He was a cataloger and he created a visual index for cataloging images.  In 1935, Bettmann left Nazi Germany for New York City with two steamer trunks full of pictures, books, and film (15,000 images).  Once in New York, he created an industry of collecting and classifying historic images for publication.

In 1995, the archive was sold to Corbis Images, a digital stock photography company in New York City founded by Bill Gates.  In 2002, to preserve the photos and negatives, Corbis moved the archive from Manhattan to the Iron Mountain National Underground Storage Facility, a former limstone quarry located 220 feet below ground in western Pennsylvania.  This site was chosen because it’s the most seismically sound and environmentally optimal location for film preservation in the United States.  Over the years, other collections were added to the archives including the United Press International collection.  There are 19 million historic photographs and images stored in this facility.

The Corbis website is mainly for selling reproductions of their photographs, so I sent an email to their sales department explaining what I had.  An hour later I received an email from their Sales Manager!  Not only was he happy I contacted Corbis, he told me his wife was actually from Hamden!  Small world!  I mailed the photograph to him on July 10th and on July 14th, I received an email from him letting me know the photo arrived safe and sound.  It will be shipped off to Pennsylvania for  digitizing and preservation.  He included a link to a 10 minute video that talks about that facility.  You can view it here.

I want to thank Sam Pagan and Oscar Espaillat from Corbis Images.  They were very helpful.  I wish I was able to find out how the photograph wound up at the Cheshire Library, but the paper trail was just too old.  But I certainly enjoyed learning about the Bettemann Archives and Corbis Images and I hope you found it interesting too!

If you’re interested in the story of Charles Lindbergh and Anne Morrow Lindbergh, the Cheshire Library has an assortment of materials for you to peruse.  I reviewed the fiction book, The Aviator’s Wife in an earlier post you can read here.

 

Source: Corbis Images

 

 

 

Happy Birthday Paperback Books!

birthday

On July 30, 1935, a new technology was born that provided knowledge, stories, entertainment (with text and pictures, no less) that was convenient and cheap.  It was light enough to carry anywhere and you could tag specific areas to penguinre-read at a later date.  An early e-reader?  Nope – the paperback book!  Penquin Publishers, in England, was the first to successfully publish respectable, quality writing without a hard cover.  (There were earlier paperback books called penny dreadfuls, yellow-backs, and dime novels that generally featured lurid stories and were printed on cheap pulp paper.)

pocketPartnering with Simon & Schuster, Robert de Graff introduced the first paperbacks in America on June 19, 1939 called Pocket Books.  The first American paperback book to be printed in the United States was The Good Earth by Pearl Buck.  The cost to purchase these new books – 25 cents versus $2.75 for a hardcover.  In order to make a profit on paperbacks, de Graff had to print 100,000 copies at a time.  He couldn’t rely on bookstores to sell that many copies so he began using magazine distributors to place Pocket Books in newsstands, subway stations, drugstores and any other outlet to reach suburban and rural populations.  He designed bold, colorful, eye-catching book covers to catch people’s eyes.  By September 1944, 100 million books were sold in more than 70,000 outlets across the United States.   By the end of the 1940’s, the paperback industry began publishing original stories.  Previously, the industry only reprinted hardcover titles.  There are now more than 20 major publishers producing high quality, original and reprinted paperbacks.

 

Today, there are many sizes of paperback books and all different prices, but the two major sizes are mass-market and trade.  Authors originally wrote stories for publications in magazines, but soon shifted their attention to mass-market paperbacks.  They could write longer, more in-depth, entertaining novels that boasted beautiful, bold, color covers and were prominently displayed in all types of venues.  They were affordable and easy to carry and proved to be a huge hit.  Mass-market paperback readers have a large selection of genres of original stories to choose from, in addition to best-selling hardcovers republished in paperback form.  In the beginning, Westerns were the biggest selling genre, followed by Crime and Science Fiction.   The most popular genre for mass-market today is Romance.  Within this genre you will find many sub-genres including contemporary romance, historical romance, small town romance, and paranormal romance.  The Cheshire Library has a separate section dedicated to mass-market Romance Books located towards the front of the library, near the large windows.    Another very popular genre for mass-market paperbacks are Cozy Mysteries.  The Cheshire Library has a large selection of these interfiled among the hardcovers in the Mystery section of the library.  You can also find regular Fiction, Science Fiction and Fantasy paperbacks in the library’s collection.

COZY MYSTERIES

COZY MYSTERIES

Some literary authors, critics and bookstore owners turned their noses up at mass market paperbacks.  When Doubleday’s Jason Epstein was a college student, he lamented the fact that he and his fellow students couldn’t afford hardcover editions and envisioned a line of upscale paperbacks of hardcover bestsellers and classics.  By 1953, Trade paperbacks were introduced.  These were larger, more durable, with attractive covers illustrated by fine artists with an appeal to a more intellectual market.  They sold for 65 cents to $1.25.    The library’s selection of Trade paperbacks are filed among the hardcover books.  They also come in a variety of genres, with the most popular genres being erotic romance – with Fifty Shades of Grey topping the charts – and Christian-themed books.

 

There were many who thought paperbacks would kill the publishing industry, but instead, the books proved to be quite the sensation.  As recently as 2010, paperbacks outsold hardcover books.  Although the ebook has taken some of the market away from paperbacks, they still continue to be a much beloved tool for readers everywhere.  The look, feel, texture, smell, size, and portability makes the paperback book very inviting.

 

Romantic Beach Reads

hotMake sure you have plenty of your favorite cold drink on hand!  These books are sizzling!

in the moodIn The Mood For Love by Beth Ciotta – Sugar Creek, Vermont, is a world away from Los Angeles for high-powered, media-obsessed Harper Day. When she took the job doing publicity for the Cupcake Lovers, she never expected to be won over by the town’s old-fashioned charms. But that was before she moved into the Victorian vacation home of her dreams and fell in with a man whose good looks and irresistible ways are anything but small-town.  Sam McCloud is a widowed father of two. He and bossy, big-city Harper appear to have nothing in common… though the attraction they feel toward one another cannot be denied. But will their romance last longer than the day’s headlines?betrayed

Betrayed by Rebecca York -Rockfort Security operative Shane Gallagher has been brought into S&D Systems to find a security leak. Confidential information has been stolen, and Shane suspects Elena Reyes, a systems analyst with the access and know-how to pull it off. As he finds excuses to get close to her, their attraction is too strong to ignore, but how can Shane trust the very woman he’s investigating?  Elena has spent her life proving herself, but now she’s risking it all: everything she’s worked for, and her growing feelings for Shane. Much as she wants to trust the devastatingly sexy, hard-as-nails investigator, she can’t let herself fall for him…the stakes are too high.

never been kissedNever Been Kissed by Molly O’Keefe – As the daughter of a wealthy politician, Ashley Montgomery has had enough of her parents’ expectations for her future and is going her own way, volunteering to work at a refugee camp in Africa. But her act of charity turns dangerous when she takes a boat trip and is abducted by Somali pirates. Enter Brody Baxter, who was a bodyguard for the Montgomery family ten years ago and doesn’t think twice about coming to Ashley’s rescue.then came you

Then Came You by Jill Shalvis – Veterinary intern Emily can’t believe she wound up in the small town of Sunshine, Idaho, instead of the Los Angeles clinic she had always imagined. Now she has to put her plans to move to L.A. on hold for a whole year while she fulfills the obligation of her vet school scholarship.  Then Wyatt, her gorgeous one-night stand from a Reno vet conference, introduces himself as her new boss.

longest nightThe Longest Night by Kara Braden – Years ago, former Marine Captain Cecily Knight fled her dark past and the nightmares forever haunting her nights. Alone in the remote Canadian wilderness, she survives day to day…until Ian Fairchild comes storming into her life and shatters her protective seclusion.  Aloof but intriguing, defensive but undeniable, Ian is everything Cecily shouldn’t want but can’t ignore. He watches her with shrewd blue eyes, as if determined to decipher her secrets…and for the first time in years, she finds herself coming alive beneath the hands of a man with too many scars to count.something sweet

Something Sweeter by Candis Terry – Seattle event planner Allison Lane is an expert at delivering the perfect wedding—even if she might not exactly believe in the whole “’til death do us part” thing. When her father decides to tie the knot with a woman he barely knows, Allison heads to Sweet, Texas, to make sure his new honey is the real deal. What she didn’t expect to find at the local honky-tonk was a sexy Southern man as bent on charming her pants off as he is on blowing her “true love doesn’t exist” theory all to hell.Veterinarian, former Marine, and Sweet’s favorite playboy Jesse Wilder takes one look at Allison and knows she’s a handful of trouble he can’t deny. But even after a sizzling kiss and obvious mutual attraction, it seems Allison has no such problem. When Jesse uncovers her sweet side, can he crush his playboy image, melt her cynical heart, and change her mind about taking a trip down the aisle?

longest timeThe Longest Time by Kendra Leigh Castle – After a perfect storm of events leaves Sam high, dry, and jobless, she has to head home to Harvest Cove to regroup. Growing up, she was the town misfit, and a brief high school romance that resulted in heartbreak made her realize she was never going to fit in. But now with the support of her mother and an unexpected circle of allies, Sam starts to wonder if she’s misjudged the town all these years.  Life’s been good to Jake Smith. He transitioned from popular jock to town veterinarian without any trouble. But Sam’s homecoming makes him question his choices. The sharp-tongued beauty was never a good fit for the small community, but he’s never forgotten her—or how good they were together. While she makes it clear she’s not about to repeat the past, Jake’s determined to convince her to give him—and Harvest Cove—a second chance.sunset beach

On Sunset Beach by Mariah Stewart – Carly Summit’s name couldn’t be more fitting, since in life she always lands on top. She grew up wealthy and privileged in a tony Connecticut town, opened her own gallery in New York City, and is about to make art world history displaying previously unknown works by a prominent twentieth-century painter. No wonder she possesses a can-do attitude that can’t be soured. Ford Sinclair is another story. A military career in war-torn Africa, where he witnessed unspeakable violence and suffering, has left him haunted and deeply cynical. Now he’s looking for a way to forget and a place to belong. He hopes to find both back home in St. Dennis.
red bikiniThe Red Bikini by Lauren Christopher – For the last five years, Giselle McCabe’s life has been about sippy cups and playdates. But when her husband suddenly leaves her, Giselle flees to her sister’s California beach house for a two-week getaway. Out of her element, she’s surprised to receive such a warm welcome—especially from gorgeous celebrity athlete Fin Hensen.

Riding the Wave by Lorelie Brown – With a make-or-break world championship on the line, riding the waveprofessional surfer Tanner Wright has come back to the coastal California hometown he left a decade ago, carrying only his board and the painful knowledge of his father’s infidelity. Now that Hank Wright is dead, Tanner intends to keep the secret buried to spare his mother and sister the burden. The last time Avalon Knox saw her best friend’s brother, she was fourteen and he was a twenty-year-old surfer god. She’s never understood or respected the way Tanner distanced himself from the family that has embraced her. But now she has the professional chance of a lifetime: to photograph Tanner for the competition—if he’ll agree.

where the horsesWhere The Horses Run by Kaki Warner – Wounded in body and spirit after a shootout, Rayford Jessup leaves his career as a lawman and uses his gift with damaged horses to bring meaning to his solitary life. Hired by a Scotsman in Heartbreak Creek to purchase thoroughbreds, he travels to England, unaware that a traumatized horse and a beautiful Englishwoman will change his life forever.

Linda Reads: Delancey: A Man, A Woman, A Restaurant, A Marriage by Molly Wizenberg

It’s rare for me to read a memoir,  but the title of this memoir intrigue me enough to give it a try.   I’m so glad I did!  The author is a blogger (Orangette) and the book tends to lend itself to a blogging format, but I found it to be a poignant and funny account of a marriage that takes an unexpected career path.

delanceyDelancey tells the story of Molly Wizenberg and Brandon Pettit –  a trained composer with a handful of offbeat interests: espresso machines, wooden boats, violin-building, and ice cream–making. So when Brandon decided to open a pizza restaurant, Molly was supportive—not because she wanted him to do it, but because the idea was so far-fetched that she didn’t think he would. Before she knew it, he’d signed a lease on a space. The restaurant, Delancey, was going to be a reality, and all of Molly’s assumptions about her marriage were about to change.

Together they built Delancey: gutting and renovating the space on a cobbled-together budget, developing a menu, hiring staff, and passing inspections. Delancey became a success, and Molly tried to convince herself that she was happy in their new life until—in the heat and pressure of the restaurant kitchen—she realized that she hadn’t been honest with herself or Brandon.

With evocative photos by Molly and twenty new recipes for the kind of simple, delicious food that chefs eat at home, Delancey is a moving and honest account of two young people learning to give in and let go in order to grow together.

About the author:molly

Molly Wizenberg is the voice behind Orangette, named the best food blog in the world by the London Times. Her first book, A Homemade Life: Stories and Recipes from My Kitchen Table, was a New York Times bestseller, and her work has appeared in Bon Appétit, The Washington Post, The Art of Eating, and The Guardian, and on Saveur.com and Gourmet.com. She also co-hosts the hit podcast Spilled Milk. She lives in Seattle with her husband Brandon Pettit, their daughter June, and two dogs named Jack and Alice. She and Brandon own and run the restaurants Delancey and Essex.
Source:  Amazon