cheshire public library

On Our (virtual) Shelves: New E-Books

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There are lots of new titles to choose from in our E-Book collection. If you’re a Cheshire Library cardholder, check out our Connect Downloadable Catalog for more ebooks and audiobooks. Here’s a sample of what’s new…

New Fiction

The Hero by Robin Carr. In a moment of desperation, Devon McAllister takes her daughter and flees a place where they should have been safe and secure. She thought she wanted to hide from the world, but in Thunder Point, you find bravery where you least expect it…and sometimes, you find a hero.

Big Brother by Lionel Shriver. From the acclaimed author of the National Book Award finalist So Much for That and the international bestseller We Need to Talk About Kevin comes a striking new novel about siblings, marriage, and obesity.

New Non-Fiction

The Library Book by various authors. From Alan Bennett’s Baffled at a Bookcase, to Lucy Mangan’s Library Rules, famous writers tell us all about how libraries are used and why they’re important.

Between Man and Beast by Monte Reel. The adventure of an unlikely young explorer who emerged from the jungles of Africa with evidence of a mysterious, still mythical beast–the gorilla–only to stumble straight into the center of the biggest debate of the day: Darwin’s theory of evolution.

New for Teens

Confessions of a Murder Suspect by James Patterson and Maxine Paetro. James Patterson returns to the genre that made him famous with a thrilling teen detective series about the mysterious and magnificently wealthy Angel family . . . and the dark secrets they’re keeping…

Graffiti Moon by Cath Crowley. Senior year is over, and Lucy has the perfect way to celebrate: tonight, she’s going to find Shadow, the mysterious graffiti artist whose work appears all over the city. He’s out there somewhere–spraying color, spraying birds and blue sky on the night. and Lucy knows a guy who paints like Shadow is someone she could fall for…

New for Kids

Oddkins by Dean Koontz. Blockbuster author Dean Koontz’s first novel for young readers, a beautifully illustrated and visually stunning story about a magical band of living toys who learn to overcome the fears we all face in the dark.

My Name is Mina by David Almond. Award-winning author David Almond reintroduces readers to the perceptive, sensitive Mina before the events of Skellig in this lyrical and fantastical work.

Six Picks – Realistic Fiction for Young Adults

/ Sharon Tyler / Leave a comment

Summer’s over, and life is back to reality!  If you like your fiction with a dose of realism, here’s a list of realistic fiction books for young adults (that adults can enjoy, too!).

The Fault in Our Stars

The Fault in Our Stars by John Green is a  about Sixteen-year-old Hazel, a stage IV thyroid cancer patient. She has accepted her terminal diagnosis until a chance meeting with a boy at cancer support group forces her to reexamine her perspective on love, loss, and life. (A movie adaptation is currently in production.)

Butter

Butter by Erin Jade Lange is about an obese boy everyone calls “Butter”. He is about to make history by eating himself to death, live on the Internet, and everyone is invited to watch. When he first makes the announcement online he gets  morbid cheerleaders rallying around his plan. As their dark encouragement grows, it begins to feel a lot like popularity. What happens when Butter reaches his suicide deadline? Can he live with the fallout if he doesn’t go through with his plans?

The Miseducation of Cameron Post

The Miseducation of Cameron Post by Emily M. Danforth takes place in the early 1990s. After Cameron Post’s parents die she moves in with her conservative aunt Ruth and her well-intentioned but hopelessly old-fashioned grandmother. She rebels against the norms and her family decides she needs to change her ways, she is sent to a gay conversion therapy center.

Skinny

Skinny by Donna Cooner is about fifteen-year-old Ever Davies. She is obese and has a cruel inner voice that never lets her forget about her weight or how others see her. She undergoes gastric-bypass surgery, a and makes the decision to start participating in high school life, which includes pursuing her dream of becoming a singer.

The Complete History of Why I Hate Her

The Complete History of Why I Hate Her by Jennifer Richard Jacobson is about sixteen year old Nola who wanting a break from being known only for her sister’s cancer. Shae leaves Boston for a waitressing job at a summer resort in Maine, but soon feels as if her new best friend is taking over her life.

Eleanor & Park

Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell. Set over the course of one school year in 1986, this wonderful debut novel is the story of two star-crossed misfits–smart enough to know that first love almost never lasts, but brave and desperate enough to try.

If realistic fiction is your favorite genre, or all of these are currently checked out, take a look at just about any book from John Green, Sarah Dessen, or Lurlene McDaniel. You could also look for Wonder by R.J. Palacio,  A Scary Scene in a Scary Movie by Matt Blackstone, Blink & Caution by Tim Wynne-Jones,  or Tangled by Carolyn Mackler. This is far from a complete list, but it just might be the start you need.

Do you have a favorite realistic fiction book or author?

10 Books we’re looking forward to in October

/ Louise / Leave a comment

LibraryReads.org is a new online endeavor designed to let librarians spread the word about the books they’re most excited about. Each month librarians from around the country nominate new and upcoming titles they’d most like to share with readers. Who better to recommend your next read?

One of the goals of LibraryReads is to highlight the important role public libraries play in building buzz for new books and new authors. So click through to read more about what new and upcoming books librarians consider buzzworthy this month…

  1. The Rosie Project by Graeme Simsion

  2. Longbourn  by Jo Baker

  3. The Lowland by Jhumpa Lahiri

  4. Cartwheel by Jennifer duBois

  5. Hawthorn & Child by Keith Ridgeway

  6. The Stop: How the Fight for Good Food Transformed a Community and Inspired a Movement by Nick Saul & Andrea Curtis

  7. We Are Water by Wally Lamb

  8. The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt

  9. The Tilted World by Tom Franklin & Beth Ann Fennell

  10. Hunting Season: Immigration and Murder in an All-American Town by Mirta Ojito

I Hate Orchestra – Except Maybe This

/ Susan O. / Leave a comment

I’ve tried.  I’ve tried to like pure orchestral music, whether it’s Mozart, the Boston Philharmonic or the soundtrack to Amadeus, but sitting in a chair in what looks like a theater for two hours watching a musician sawing a cello without a movie to keep my brain busy is the fastest way to put me to sleep.  I love Beethoven and Brahms and Bach as background music when I’m thinking, but they are not my main idea of entertainment.

BUT…

            I stumbled upon a truly fabulous CD that chases the ho-hum factor right out the window.   A Classic Case: The London Symphony Orchestra Plays The Music Of Jethro Tull is exciting, dynamic, and I cannot get my car to crank it as loud as I’d like. They nail the flute solos on Bungle in the Jungle (well, they are an orchestra), but bang out the drums and electric guitars on Aqualung in a manner worthy of an Indiana Jones soundtrack. You completely forget you are listening to the stuffy London Philharmonic. Maybe it’s because Tull is one of those bands that can cross the barrier between rock and New Age, and transfers very nicely to the lute, (yes, medieval lute, not just flute) but the London Philharmonic truly knows how to rock!

  If you find orchestral Tull to be tolerable, try these other albums which twist at the roots of “classical” or orchestral music:

David Garrett, Rock Symphonies:  Where else can you get Kashmir, Kurt Cobain, or Metallica blasted from an electric violin?  That’s right – violin, otherwise known as a fiddle. This is another incredible album that will have you headbanging around the room. It is as fabulous and frenzied as the classic originals, and the perfect introduction of “classical” concepts in musical themes for your kids.  They will be amazed. Also check out his new cd, Music.

Rockabye Baby: a wonderful series of hard rock classics – from Pink Floyd to AC/DC and Nirvana, turned into lullabies on unusual instruments such as marimba and harp.  If you want to start your kids on “classic” rock early, or simply prefer to relax to favorites in a calm manner, you’ll want to give these a try (the Pink Floyd is awesome).

            

Not in the library but fully worth pursuing is also Symphonic Pink Floyd – Us and Them, by the London Philharmonic Orchestra.  Yes, Pink Floyd is often heavy on orchestration to start with, but hearing it this way is truly superb. With a little practice – and a lot of familiar instrumental rock – you might just learn to like orchestral music!

Sharon Reads: Weather Witch by Shannon Delany

/ Sharon Tyler / Leave a comment

[Cover]

Weather Witch

Weather Witch by Shannon Delany is a young to new adult novel with a bit of a steam punk feel. In the New World rank is everything, and being deemed to carry some sort of magic is the worst curse of all. Jordan is from one of the highest ranked families in society, and she is celebrating her seventeenth birthday, a moment when she should have been clear of any suspicion of magic and ready to start planning marriage and her future. However, a back alley dealing leads to Jordan testing positive as a witch. She, and her family, lose rank and all respect in the society as Jordan is whisked away to be tested further and ‘made’ into a usable source of power. But the Maker is having trouble doing changing Jordan. Meanwhile, Jordan’s friend and romantic interest Rowen seems to be the only one of rank that has not given up on her and does everything he can to save her, while an escaped witch works to bring down the man and culture that made him an outcast.

Weather Witch is a more complicated story than I expected when I picked up the book, in a good way. I expected the standard fare of young adult finds out they are ‘special’ and both good and bad happen because of it. While there is a certain aspect of this here – Jordan is considered special –  there is also deep world building and several related story lines running through the book as well. We get to see into the heart and personal life of the Maker, who without that insight would have simply been the bad guy. We get to see into the psyche of a good number of side characters as well. At times it felt like it would soon become overwhelming, for me it never crossed that line, rather it made me curious to see how everything would come together. I was not disappointed, well maybe in a couple twists but only because I liked the characters that I knew would no longer appear after certain moments. I could understand others getting confused by the voice changes and the incremental world building, but it really worked for me. I really enjoyed getting inside the head of Rowen, Jordan, the Maker, and even some servants to see the whole picture, rather than the limited perspective a single character might offer. I do not want to talk about the plot more, or give away any good stuff, because I found the book to be a surprising journey and would hate to ruin that for anyone.

I would recommend Weather Witch to readers that enjoy steam punk, coming of age tales, historical fiction, science fiction or fantasy, and simply reading something that feels fresh and new.l I think that young adults and adults would both enjoy the book, while the majority of main characters are of the teen set, the setting and political factions will keep everyone interested and turning the pages. Frankly, the only thing that really bothered me about the book was an ending that was obviously a set up for a sequel, and the knowledge that Stormbringer will not be released until January of 2014. I would give Weather Witch 4 stars.

This review was originally published on Sharon the Librarian.