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Monthly Archives: December 2016

The Little Paris Bookshop: A Novel by Nina George

28 Wednesday Dec 2016

Posted by Weston Public Library Staff in Fiction, Humor, Travel

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barge travel, books, booksellers, bookselling, mental healing, Paris, reading

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Jean Perdu calls himself a literary apothecary: a “reader of souls” with the knowledge to suggest books to his patrons that will heal what they don’t even know that ails them. His bookshop-on-a-barge (including cats and an Italian chef) travels the canals of Paris, Champagne, Burgundy, Lyons, and Marseilles. This is an uplifting, joyous read. By the book’s end, I was looking for barge travel options in France!

“If you’re looking to be charmed right out of your own life for a few hours, sit down with this wise and winsome novel…Everything happens just as you want it to… from poignant moments to crystalline insights in exactly the right measure.”—Oprah.com

“The settings are ideal for a summer-romance read…Who can resist floating on a barge through France surrounded by books, wine, love, and great conversation?”—Christian Science Monitor

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Twelve Dogs of Christmas by David Rosenfelt

19 Monday Dec 2016

Posted by Weston Public Library Staff in Fiction, Humor, mystery

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Andy Carpenter (Fictitious character), attorneys, crimes against ex-convicts, detectives, dogs, rescue, strays, suspense, thriller

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This was the first mystery that I read that was written by David Rosenfelt, but it won’t be the last. The title drew me in and what kept me reading was his brisk pace and upbeat sense of humor. I think animal lovers and mystery lovers alike will enjoy his Andy Carpenter series and other titles.

“Rosenfelt’s 15th mystery featuring Paterson, NJ-based defense attorney Andy Carpenter (Outfoxed) takes on the case of Martha “Pups” Boyer, who earned her nickname after years of rescuing and placing stray puppies. However, a neighbor complained to the city about the dogs, and now Pups is due in court to fight the zoning law. Although she wins that battle, she’s soon hauled off to jail for allegedly killing the complainant. To make matters worse, that case calls into question the death of Pups’s husband. Now Andy will have to prove her innocence and avoid the killer. The wisecracking, dog-loving attorney still has plenty of appeal in this fast-paced Christmas mystery that avoids any holiday sentimentality.” – Library Journal

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Strangers in Their Own Land: Anger and Mourning on the American Right by Arlie Russell Hochschild

12 Monday Dec 2016

Posted by Weston Public Library Staff in Non-fiction

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21rst century, conservatism history, liberalism history, political psychology, United States

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Hochschild is a sociologist and liberal professor from Berkeley, California, who was trying to understand conservatives in the South for the purposes of finding common ground. She searches for the “deep story” of what drives them. It’s a fascinating account of her interviews with residents in Louisiana and their feelings and views about what is happening in modern society and politics.

2016 NATIONAL BOOK AWARD FINALIST FOR NONFICTION

“Strangers In Their Own Land is by far the best book by an outsider to the Tea Party I have ever encountered.—Forbes

 “Satisfying…[Hochschild’s] analysis is overdue at a time when questions of policy and legislation and even fact have all but vanished from the public discourse.”—Nathaniel Rich, The New York Review of Books

“Arlie Hochschild journeys into a far different world than her liberal academic enclave of Berkeley, into the heartland of the nation’s political right, in order to understand how the conservative white working class sees America. With compassion and empathy, she discovers the narrative that gives meaning and expression to their lives–and which explains their political convictions, along with much else. Anyone who wants to understand modern America should read this captivating book.”—Robert B. Reich, Chancellor’s Professor of Public Policy, University of California, Berkeley

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A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles

07 Wednesday Dec 2016

Posted by Weston Public Library Staff in Fiction, Historical Fiction

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aristocracy (social class), historical fiction, home detention, hotels, interpersonal relations, Moscow, Russian history

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Five book leaders at the Wellesley Book Store posted that this was the best book they had read this year.  I join the chorus. Utterly absorbing – I read this book only when I had carefully set aside chunks of time to read uninterrupted –  to be immersed in the world of Count Rostov and his sentence to captivity for life in the grand hotel, the Metropol.  It’s been a very long time since I hugged a book to my heart at its conclusion with utter gratitude to the author for this gift of story, characters, and an ending that does not disappoint  – only that it is the final page.

-novelist Amor Towles continues to explore the question of how a person can lead an authentic life in a time when mere survival is a feat in itself . . . Towles’s tale, as lavishly filigreed as a Fabergé egg….—O, The Oprah Magazine

“Who will save Rostov from the intrusions of state if not the seamstress, chefs, bartenders and doormen? In the end, Towles’s greatest narrative effect is not the moments of wonder and synchronicity but the generous transformation of these peripheral workers, over the course of decades, into confidants, equals and, finally, friends.  With them around, a life sentence in these gilded halls might make Rostov the luckiest man in Russia.” –The New York Times Book Review

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