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Monthly Archives: November 2014

The Vacationers by Emma Straub

17 Monday Nov 2014

Posted by Weston Public Library Staff in Fiction, Travel

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family vacations, Majorca, Spain

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Fittingly, I read this while on vacation.  The story follows a family’s summer trip to the island of Majorca, Spain. Each character — parents, children, visiting family friends — is struggling with something painful, but the book is still really funny and a page-turner. And it will make you want to visit Majorca!

“For those unable to jet off to a Spanish island this summer, reading The Vacationers may be the next-best thing. . . . [A] gorgeously written novel  . . . When I turned the last page, I felt as I often do when a vacation is over: grateful for the trip and mourning its end.”—The New York Times Book Review

“Sharply observed and funny, Straub’s domestic-drama-goes-abroad is a delightful study of the complexities of family and love, and the many distractions from both.”—Booklist (starred review)

“A novel that is both a lot of fun to read and has plenty of insight into the marital bond and the human condition.”—Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
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The Hanging Judge by Michael Ponsor

10 Monday Nov 2014

Posted by Weston Public Library Staff in Fiction

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capital punishment, criminal justice, judges, Massachusetts, murder, sentences (criminal procedure), trials

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This extraordinary thriller written by Michael Ponsor, a senior judge in the U.S. District Court in Springfield, Massachusetts, offers an unprecedented inside view of a death penalty trial.  The novel is based on the experience of the author who presided over the first capital case in Massachusetts in more than fifty years.  Massachusetts readers will be rewarded with many references to the towns of Amherst, Holyoke, Northampton as well as Springfield.

The Honorable Michael A. Ponsor will speak at the Weston Public Library on Thursday, November 13 at 7 pm in the Community Room.

“There are plenty of surprises to keep readers turning pages. Ponsor gives readers a unique look into the workings of a courtroom. But more than that, he demonstrates a feel for how ordinary families are affected by the legal system. Ponsor’s debut would make a great movie.” —Kirkus Reviews, starred review

“A marvelous entertainment, a page-turning mystery full of romance and humor, which takes us inside the fraught and rather secretive world of a judge’s chambers. In the best way—that is, indirectly—Ponsor informs us about the facts that ought to inform debate on the death penalty. What impressed me most of all was the book’s authority; it has the heft of authenticity.” —Tracy Kidder, Pulitzer Prize–winning author of Mountains Beyond Mountains

 “A compelling tale, with a cast of vividly drawn characters and a plot that twists and turns—it entertains, as a good novel should, but even better, it also informs, as only the best ones do.” —Jonathan Harr, author of A Civil Action

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The Madonnas of Leningrad by Debra Dean

05 Wednesday Nov 2014

Posted by Weston Public Library Staff in Fiction, Historical Fiction

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Alzheimer's, art treasures in war, Hermitage Museum, memory, Seige 1941-44, St. Petersburg (Russia), World War II

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The author of this novel offers a poignant but marvelous glimpse into the life of Marina Buriakov, a former docent at the Hermitage Art Museum in Leningrad during World War II, whose mind is now slipping into the shadows of Alzheimer’s.

“Dean writes with passion and compelling drama about a grotesque chapter of World War II.” (People)

“Elegant and poetic, the rare kind of book that you want to keep but you have to share.” (Isabel Allende, New York Times bestselling author of Zorro)

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