Author Archives: Weston Public Library Staff

The Nightmare Place by Steve Mosby

01 Monday Feb 2016

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I don’t read a lot of crime fiction, so I’m not sure why I picked this up, but I’m glad that I did.  It was definitely creepy and a page turner, told from the point of view of a police officer, a murderer, and a helpline volunteer at a confidential call-in support center.  Don’t read it before bedtime!

“Not for the faint of heart or stomach, but for the rest of you, The Murder Code heralds the American debut of a major new voice in crime fiction.”–BookPage

“He writes like the very best American thriller writers. Cancel all other engagements for the day.”–The Guardian

“Mosby joins Ken Bruen, Mo Hayder, Val McDermid, and others on the dark side of UK crime fiction; his thrillers build suspense superbly, but his real strength is in character development. All his characters, particularly the women, are well drawn and complex, without a cliché in the bunch.”–Booklist

Veronica Mars, Season One (TV show)

25 Monday Jan 2016

Posted by in Comedy, Fiction

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Veronica Mars is an outcast at her rich California high school after her best friend’s death. While solving mysteries with her private investigator father, she is also determined to figure out who killed her friend. This is a funny, well-written, suspenseful show with great characters and a “film noir” feel.

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Reading Claudius: a Memoir in Two Parts by Caroline Heller

21 Thursday Jan 2016

Posted by in Biography, History

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I highly recommend this memoir written by Caroline Heller.  She describes her parents stories of living in the cosmopolitan city of Prague before Hitler and the devastation World War II brought.  Interwoven throughout the book are literature and poetry quotes which sustained her family through their darkest times.

“This fine book contains moments of emotion so pure that in the end, we too fall in love with the writer’s past.”—The New York Times Book Review

“[Caroline] Heller plunges us lovingly and convincingly into [a] lost world.”—The Boston Globe

“Caroline Heller writes with both honesty and delicacy. I was particularly enthralled by her finely drawn portrait of prewar Central Europe: a lost world whose memories are inestimably valuable and fiercely beautiful but which, without accounts like this, would fade forever.”—Anne Fadiman, author of The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down

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My Kitchen Year: 136 Recipes that Saved My Life by Ruth Reichel

12 Tuesday Jan 2016

Posted by in Biography, Non-fiction

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In 2009, Gourmet magazine suddenly closes its doors and Ruth faces a world with no job.  Part personal narrative, part cookbook, heal with Ruth as she turns to her favorite recipes and foods for the seasons.  Beautifully illustrated, the book exudes warmth and cheer.  Food therapy at its best!

“Ruth is one of our greatest storytellers today, which you will feel from the moment you open this book and begin to read: No one writes as warmly and engagingly about the all-important intersection of food, life, love, and loss. This book is a lyrical and deeply intimate journey told through recipes, as only Ruth can do.”—Alice Waters

“The dishes are clearly fun and uplifting for Reichl, and the unexpected shift from culinary guru to happy home cook chases her blues away. Reichl reminds readers that getting lost in a recipe can be excellent therapy.”—Publishers Weekly (starred review)

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Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates

04 Monday Jan 2016

Posted by in Non-fiction

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The author wrote this book as a letter to his son about what it means to be black in America. His words and ideas are valuable for every American regardless of race or politics. The author not only describes his personal experiences and feelings but also analyzes race in the broader context of American society and history. His powerful insights are the product of a brilliant mind.   The audio is read by the author.  I haven’t been so moved by a book since reading “A House in the Sky” by Amanda Lindhout.

“The powerful story of a father’s past and a son’s future . . . Coates offers this eloquent memoir as a letter to his teenage son, bearing witness to his own experiences and conveying passionate hopes for his son’s life. . . . This moving, potent testament might have been titled Black Lives Matter.”—Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

“Ta-Nehisi Coates is the James Baldwin of our era, and this is his cri de coeur. A brilliant thinker at the top of his powers, he has distilled four hundred years of history and his own anguish and wisdom into a prayer for his beloved son and an invocation to the conscience of his country. Between the World and Me is an instant classic and a gift to us all.”—Isabel Wilkerson, author of The Warmth of Other Suns

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The Secret Chord by Geraldine Brooks

28 Monday Dec 2015

Posted by in Biography, Fiction, Historical Fiction

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I recommend Geraldine Brooks titles to anyone who loves historical fiction.  She has done it once again!  I was swept away into Second Iron Age Israel, most violent of times. This vivid, imaginative account takes one through the tribal battlefields and into the heart of David’s family of 8 wives and 9 children. Inspired by the lost book of Nathan.

“There’s something bordering on the supernatural about Geraldine Brooks.  She seems able to transport herself back to earlier time periods, to time travel.  Sometimes, reading her work, she draws you so thoroughly into another era that you swear she’s actually lived in it.  With sensory acuity and a deep and complex understanding of emotional states, she conjures up the way we lived then. . .Brooks has humanized the king and cleverly added a modern perspective to our understanding of him. . .[Her] vision of the biblical world is enrapturing.”  —The Boston Globe
“The best historical fiction. . .Brooks gives the whole king his due. . .It’s a tall order to breathe life into such a human being, and she manages it admirably.”—NPR
“In her gorgeously written novel of ambition, courage, retribution, and triumph, Brooks imagines the life and character of King David in all his complexity. . .The language, clear and precise throughout, turns soaringly poetic when describing music or the glory of David’s city. . .taken as a whole, the novel feels simultaneously ancient, accessible, and timeless.” —ALA Booklist
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The Blind Assassin by Margaret Atwood

14 Monday Dec 2015

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A woman reflects on her life, particularly her relationship with her late sister, who died after driving off a bridge. The novel alternates between past and present, and includes a “novel within a novel” that adds to the mystery surrounding the two sisters’ lives. Margaret Atwood is an acclaimed writer, and this is my favorite of her books that I’ve read.

“Absorbing… expertly rendered… Virtuosic storytelling [is] on display.”–The New York Times

“Brilliant… Opulent… Atwood is a poet…. as well as a contriver of fiction, and scarcely a sentence of her quick, dry yet avid prose fails to do useful work, adding to a picture that becomes enormous.”–John Updike, The New Yorker

“Bewitching… A killer novel…. Atwood’s crisp wit and steely realism are reminiscent of Edith Wharton… A wonderfully complex narrative.”
—The Christian Science Monitor

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The Dead Duke, His Secret Wife and the Missing Corpse: An extraordinary Edwardian case of deception and intrigue by Piu Marie Eatwell

07 Monday Dec 2015

Posted by in Biography, History, Non-fiction

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This non-fiction account reads like fiction.  Eatwell structured the book like a play; instead of chapters she has written acts and scenes so it reads like a farce. I learned that in 19th-century Britain, it wasn’t unheard of for men to lead double lives and have two families and two different names/personalities. Fans of Oscar Wilde will like it!

“A riveting true crime from yesteryear.” (Better Homes & Gardens)

“It’s Downton Abbey meets The Addams Family in Piu Marie Eatwell’s The Dead Duke, His Secret Wife, and the Missing Corpse, a delightfully offbeat history of a bizarre Edwardian legal case that became tabloid fodder and kept the British public spellbound for a decade…. Eatwell’s marvelous book reads like a Wilkie Collins gothic novel, but at times truth is stranger than fiction.” (Wilda Williams – Library Journal (Editor’s Fall Picks)
“A meticulous examination of a late Victorian/early Edwardian cause célèbre…with juicy details from the time period.” (Publishers Weekly)“[An] engrossing tale of mystery, lies, and intrigue…Besides recounting years of subterfuge, media hype, greed, and fraud, Eatwell throws light on Victorian and Edwardian society: aristocratic entitlement and power, numbing poverty, political corruption, and many secret lives.” (Kirkus Reviews)

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The Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater

30 Monday Nov 2015

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A small island holds a horse race each year; what makes it so dangerous is that the horses come from the sea. This novel follows two young people, each desperate to win the race. It is an unusual, beautifully written, and magical story.

“Stiefvater’s novel, inspired by Manx, Irish, and Scottish legends of beautiful but deadly fairy horses that emerge from the sea each autumn, begins rivetingly and gets better and better . . . all the way, in fact, to best.”–Horn Book Review, Starred Review

“Masterful…like nothing else out there now.”–Kirkus Reviews, Starred Review

“A study of courage and loyalty tested…utterly compelling.”–Publishers Weekly, Starred Review

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The Garden of Evening Mists by Tan Twan Eng

23 Monday Nov 2015

Posted by in Fiction, Historical Fiction

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If you are willing to be transported to the jungle-fringed tea plantations of the Cameron Highlands to discover the only Japanese garden in Malaysia, this most gifted writer will unveil another time, a place, two characters who wrestle with unspeakable brutal pasts, and seek the healing solace in the art of gardening.  I guarantee this story and this garden will linger in your mind long after you’ve read the last page.

“Beautifully written…Eng is quite simply one of the best novelists writing today.”–Philadelphia Inquirer
“Like his debut, The Gift of Rain (2007), Tan’s second novel is exquisite…Tan triumphs again, entwining the redemptive power of storytelling with the elusive search for truth, all the while juxtaposing Japan’s inhumane war history with glorious moments of Japanese art and philosophy. All readers in search of spectacular writing will not be disappointed.”–Library Journal, Starred Review
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