By DONNA HINE
Hope you are able to get outside and enjoy this beautiful spring! We are loving the sunny days with cloudless blue skies and crisp, cool nights. The view through the windows at the library is breathtaking, and the brilliant green grass looks so inviting after the damp, dreary and drab winter colors. Come sit on a bench and read here – lots of titles to choose from – or ask for ideas for a new author from one of the staff. The following suggestions are some of our newer offerings that look interesting.
Don’t you love to read a well-written cozy mystery? Nobody does cozy better than Nancy Atherton. Her 19th book featuring Aunt Dimity is just as charming as all that came before it. “Aunt Dimity and the Wishing Well” (ATH) is a light and fun read. A wishing well is granting everyone’s wish in the little town of Finch, and Lori is a little skeptical about who is actually making these dreams come true – and why. No blood, guts and gore here; just another small village mystery to solve by Lori and her invisible Aunt Dimity.
Summer is coming, and with it come delightful summer beach books! They are just beginning to trickle into our collection, and soon we will have a flood of light romances, mysteries and popular novels for you to relax with and enjoy on your vacation. The first one is “On the Rocks” (DUF) by Erin Duffy. Social media play a major role in dating these days, and no one knows this better than Abby – who realized her fiancé dumped her by seeing his status changed to “single” on Facebook! She and a friend head to Newport for the summer to find love – or at least a date – and realize that social media make their lives open books. Fluff? Sure – but also a modern-day dilemma that more and more people face.
Did you love the writing in “Sarah’s Key”? The author, Tatiana de Rosnay has now penned “The Other Story” (DeR) – with a male lead character. It seems a little unusual for a novel, but somehow it is engaging and charming at the same time. The lush setting of an exclusive Tuscan island is sure to enchant you, and the story will keep you interested. Events of his childhood continue to haunt Nicolas even as he gains acclaim from his book written about them. But some secrets never disappear. Reviews were not glowing, as Nicolas is not a lovable character, but I would still give the book a look.
The final fiction choice, “By Its Cover” (LEO) by Donna Leon is a continuation of the series of novels featuring Commissario Guido Brunetti. Pages and sometimes entire rare and valuable travel books are discovered missing or cut from their bindings at the Venetian library, and Brunetti is called to unravel the mystery. Did the visiting American professor desecrate those hallowed tomes? Maybe the mysterious priest who could always be found in the library did it … stay tuned!
After paging through Robin Robert’s new book, “Everybody’s Got Something” (B ROBERTS, ROBIN ROB), I found myself more impressed with her than ever. I don’t watch Good Morning America often but, like everyone else, was aware of her medical problems and how bravely she fought back from breast cancer and then a bone-marrow transplant. She is classy and professional at the same time. This is her story of these trials and her life – folksy and well-written. It is an inspiring saga, very upbeat and readable – written by a most admirable person.
On the other hand, we find “The Most Dangerous Animal of All: searching for my father and finding the Zodiac Killer” (362.82 STE) by Gary Stewart quite disturbing. Imagine, if you can, when searching for your biological father, you uncover indisputable forensic evidence proving he is a serial murderer – and not just any serial killer, but the Zodiac Killer. True-crime lovers will rejoice in the reading; it is a fascinating search begun when his birth-mother contacted him and ending 10 years later in a horrific conclusion.
Conrad Hilton is the mega-wealthy family’s patriarch at the center of “The Hiltons: The True Story of an American Dynasty” (B HILTOS TAR) by J. Randy Taraborrelli. Hilton anticipated post-war trends to create a business empire worth multi-millions with his hotel chains and intuitive investments. His son, Barron, continued the family legacy, but it is the “jet-setter,” Paris Hilton, with whom we are so familiar. And it is Paris who has inherited her grandfather’s ability to generate wealth. Read this book for a peek into the uber-wealthy and famous.
Finally, yet another book about a Kennedy; “Rose Kennedy: The Life and Times of a Political Matriarch” (B KENNEDY, ROSE PER) is written by Barbara A. Perry. Kennedy seems to have been the power behind her husband Joe’s throne who moved the family into positions of strength and power. Strong of faith, Rose was a perfectionist who also championed for mental disability in light of her daughter Rosemary’s affliction. She was a lobbyist for her family before we had lobbyists and strove to help them all succeed. And succeed they did: a president, three senators, a congressman, an attorney general … actually the list goes on and on with Kennedys even today in the political arena.
Adult Services Librarian Donna Hine writes Library Lines once a month. If you have a topic you’d like her to cover, contact her at the library at 203-758-2436.
