June Monday Night Book Club Book: Guilty by Karen Robards

 

In the newest novel from New York Times-bestselling author Karen Robards, a feisty female attorney's past comes back to haunt her. One cold November night when Kat White was fifteen years old, she and some friends held up a convenience store. In the heat of the moment, one of the others shot and killed an off-duty cop moonlighting as a security guard. Kat and her pals fled the scene in a panic, and no one was caught. Sixteen years later, Kat-now Kate-has built a new life for herself. Now a single mom with an eight-year-old son, she works as a prosecutor in the Philadelphia DA's office. But her dark past rears its head when she walks into court one day and discovers that she is to prosecute Mario Castellanos, one of her friends from that terrible night. Kate is in a bind: even though Mario was the one who probably did commit the crime, he's counting on Kate to make sure he's not convicted. If she convinces the judge of his guilt, he'll claim that she was the one who killed the off-duty cop. Before real despair sets in, Mario is found dead-in her apartment, and with her pistol. When homicide detective Tom Braga shows up to investigate the murder, Kate is far from relieved; the two have clashed since she started working for the prosecutor's office. But when another man who knows the secret of Kate's past gets involved in the investigation, she learns that her life-and her son's-are in danger. Frantic, she realizes that she has nowhere to turn. Except, maybe, to Tom . . .

May Monday Night Book Club book: Backseat Saints by Joshilyn Jackson

Rose Mae Lolley's mother disappeared when she was eight, leaving Rose with a heap of old novels and a taste for dangerous men. Now, as demure Mrs. Ro Grandee, she's living the very life her mother abandoned. She's all but forgotten the girl she used to be-teenaged spitfire, Alabama heartbreaker, and a crack shot with a pistol-until an airport gypsy warns Rose it's time to find her way back to that brave, tough girl . . . or else. Armed with only her wit, her pawpy's ancient .45, and her dog Fat Gretel, Rose Mae hightails it out of Texas, running from a man who will never let her go, on a mission to find the mother who did.

Starring a minor character from Jackson's bestselling gods in Alabama, BACKSEAT SAINTS will dazzle readers with its stunning portrayal of the measures a mother will take to right the wrongs she's created, and how far a daughter will travel to satisfy the demands of forgiveness.

April Monday Night Book Club Book: I Still Dream About You by Fannie Flagg

Book Description

The beloved Fannie Flagg is back and at her irresistible and hilarious best in I Still Dream About You, a comic mystery romp through the streets of Birmingham, Alabama, past, present, and future.

Meet Maggie Fortenberry, a still beautiful former Miss Alabama. To others, Maggie’s life seems practically perfect—she’s lovely, charming, and a successful real estate agent at Red Mountain Realty. Still, Maggie can’t help but wonder how she wound up in her present condition. She had been on her hopeful way to becoming Miss America and realizing her childhood dream of someday living in one of the elegant old homes on top of Red Mountain, with the adoring husband and the 2.5 children, but then something unexpected happened and changed everything.

Maggie graduated at the top of her class at charm school, can fold a napkin in more than forty-eight different ways, and can enter and exit a car gracefully, but all the finesse in the world cannot help her now. Since the legendary real estate dynamo Hazel Whisenknott, beloved founder of Red Mountain Realty, died five years ago, business has gone from bad to worse—and the future isn’t looking much better. But just when things seem completely hopeless, Maggie suddenly comes up with the perfect plan to solve it all.

As Maggie prepares to put her plan into action, we meet the cast of high-spirited characters around her. To Brenda Peoples, Maggie’s best friend and real estate partner, Maggie’s life seems easy as pie. Slender Maggie doesn’t have to worry about her figure, or about her Weight Watchers sponsor catching her at the Krispy Kreme doughnut shop. And Ethel Clipp, Red Mountain’s ancient and grumpy office manager with the bright purple hair, thinks the world of Maggie but has absolutely nothing nice to say about their rival Babs “The Beast of Birmingham” Bingington, the unscrupulous estate agent who hates Maggie and is determined to put her out of business.

Maggie has heartbreaking secrets in her past, but through a strange turn of events, she soon discovers, quite by accident, that everybody, it seems—dead or alive—has at least one little secret.

I Still Dream About You is a wonderful novel that is equal parts Southern charm, murder mystery, and that perfect combination of comedy and old-fashioned wisdom that can be served up only by America’s own remarkable Fannie Flagg.

February Monday Night Book Club Book The Things We do for Love by Kristin Hannah

Book Description:

Years of trying unsuccessfully to conceive a child have broken more than Angie DeSaria’s heart. Following a painful divorce, she moves back to her small Pacific Northwest hometown and takes over management of her family’s restaurant. In West End, where life rises and falls like the tides, Angie’s fortunes will drastically change yet again when she meets and befriends a troubled young woman.

Angie hires Lauren Ribido because she sees something special in the seventeen-year-old. They quickly form a deep bond, and when Lauren is abandoned by her mother, Angie offers the girl a place to stay. But nothing could have prepared Angie for the far-reaching repercussions of this act of kindness. Together, these two women—one who longs for a child and the other who longs for a mother’s love—will be tested in ways that neither could have imagined.

Thursday April BCB The 19th Wife by David Ebershoff

Product Description

It is 1875, and Ann Eliza Young has recently separated from her powerful husband, Brigham Young, prophet and leader of the Mormon Church. Expelled and an outcast, Ann Eliza embarks on a crusade to end polygamy in the United States. A rich account of her family’s polygamous history is revealed, including how both she and her mother became plural wives. Yet soon after Ann Eliza’s story begins, a second exquisite narrative unfolds–a tale of murder involving a polygamist family in present-day Utah. Jordan Scott, a young man who was thrown out of his fundamentalist sect years earlier, must reenter the world that cast him aside in order to discover the truth behind his father’s death. And as Ann Eliza’s narrative intertwines with that of Jordan’s search, readers are pulled deeper into the mysteries of love, family, and faith.

Monday April BCB The Hundred Secret Senses by Amy Tan

Product Description

The Hundred Secret Senses is an exultant novel about China and America, love and loyalty, the identities we invent and the true selves we discover along the way. Olivia Laguni is half-Chinese, but typically American in her uneasiness with her patchwork family. And no one in Olivia's family is more embarrassing to her than her half-sister, Kwan Li. For Kwan speaks mangled English, is cheerfully deaf to Olivia's sarcasm, and sees the dead with her "yin eyes."

Even as Olivia details the particulars of her decades-long grudge against her sister (who, among other things, is a source of infuriatingly good advice), Kwan Li is telling her own story, one that sweeps us into the splendor, squalor, and violence of Manchu China. And out of the friction between her narrators, Amy Tan creates a work that illuminates both the present and the past sweetly, sadly, hilariously, with searing and vivid prose.

South of Broad by Pat Conroy

In Pat Conroy’s latest book, South of Broad, he writes in first person as the character, Leopold Bloom King. The story begins in 1969 when Leo, a junior in high school, is asked by his mother, the principal, to befriend some new students that will begin the new school year with him. They include a set of twins who move in across the street, a pair of brother and sister orphans, an aristocratic brother and sister (and his girlfriend), and an African American teen who will be one of the first to be integrated into public school. All of these teens become quite a group and we follow them into adulthood. This friendship begins at a time when Leo is just beginning to feel like a “real person” again after going through years of treatment for mental illness that he suffered after finding his older, athletic, popular and handsome brother dead in the bathtub from suicide.

Conroy, as always, gives wonderful details of his surroundings (Charleston, SC), his characters and their feelings. There are numerous twists and turns throughout the novel with plenty of opportunities for Kleenex! It is a novel that keeps you on the edge and waiting for the next thing to happen.  It was a very enjoyable read. 

By Randy Rowell

Alice I have been

by Melanie Benjamin

For someone who has always loved the Alice in Wonderland stories, this was a must read for me. I think I did know that Alice was based on a really person, Alice Liddell, before I picked up this book, but I had no idea of the rumour and speculation that surrounded her and Rev. Charles Dodgeson who wrote under the literary pen name of Lewis Caroll. This fictionalization of Alice Liddell's life delves deep into all those rumours around her, assuming the worst and best of characters.

All through her life, Wonderland follows Alice, beginning with her as a carefree, rambunctious yet serious child of seven, unable to keep her clothes clean and with a child's love for the family friend, Dodgeson; her romance with Prince Leopold; her easy marriage to Reginald Hargreaves and her heartache and loss as her sons go off to war. But it isn't until she is old that Alice finally reads the book and finds her own Wonderland.

Monday February BCB - Standing in the Rainbow by Fannie Flagg

Product Information:

Good news! Fannie’s back in town--and the town is among the leading characters in her new novel.

Along with Neighbor Dorothy, the lady with the smile in her voice, whose daily radio broadcasts keep us delightfully informed on all the local news, we also meet Bobby, her ten-year-old son, destined to live a thousand lives, most of them in his imagination; Norma and Macky Warren and their ninety-eight-year-old Aunt Elner; the oddly sexy and charismatic Hamm Sparks, who starts off in life as a tractor salesman and ends up selling himself to the whole state and almost the entire country; and the two women who love him as differently as night and day. Then there is Tot Whooten, the beautician whose luck is as bad as her hairdressing skills; Beatrice Woods, the Little Blind Songbird; Cecil Figgs, the Funeral King; and the fabulous Minnie Oatman, lead vocalist of the Oatman Family Gospel Singers.

The time is 1946 until the present. The town is Elmwood Springs, Missouri, right in the middle of the country, in the midst of the mostly joyous transition from war to peace, aiming toward a dizzyingly bright future.

Once again, Fannie Flagg gives us a story of richly human characters, the saving graces of the once-maligned middle classes and small-town life, and the daily contest between laughter and tears. Fannie truly writes from the heartland, and her storytelling is, to quote Time, "utterly irresistible."

Good Bye Mr Chips

by James Hilton

This wonderful heart rendering tale, tells the life story of Mr Chipping.  As an old man, twice retired, he looks back on his life as he changed from a green schoolmaster to the most beloved teacher at Brookfield, an English public school for boys, known affectionately as Mr Chips.  Through hardship and war, love and tragedy Mr Chips was Brookfield, a man in a shabby robe always ready with a jest and a man who considered all his students the children he and his wife never had.

Thursday November BCB: The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time by Mark Haddon

Product Description:

Christopher John Francis Boone knows all the countries of the world and their capitals and every prime number up to 7,057. He relates well to animals but has no understanding of human emotions. He cannot stand to be touched. And he detests the color yellow.

This improbable story of Christopher’s quest to investigate the suspicious death of a neighborhood dog makes for one of the most captivating, unusual, and widely heralded novels in recent years.

Towers in the Mist by Elizabeth Goudge

Having read and loved “The Little White Horse” by the same author, I was pleased to come across another of Elizabeth Goudge’s books.  Unsure of what to expect, as my library copy had been rebound with a plain cover I embarked into the unknown.

The story is set in Christ Church, Oxford, in the 16th century and follows the Leigh family for a year, through love and grief, joy and loss, culminating with Queen Elizabeth’s visit to that illustrious city.

Although a charming read, and involving many well known characters from history, include Sir Walter Raleigh, I was a little disappointed with the simplicity of the tale.  At each turn of the page I was expecting the story to take off. Perhaps if I had known more about the book, I would have found it more enjoyable.

I also later found out it was the second book of a series.  As I intend to go back and read the first book, “A City of Bells”, perhaps it is a series that will grow on me.



Part of my 100+ reading challenge

Kentucky Sunrise

by Fern Michaels

Nealy Clay was very content with her new husband, lawyer Hatch Littletree, but she was never satisfied with horses.  Nealy was a trainer and not even her daughter, Emmie, could measure up to her standards.

When Nealy returns to Blue Diamond Farms for a family reunion she finds that her daughter has let the farm slide, and that she is planning to send a colt to the Kentucky Derby.

Nealy gets back into the game, taking on the colt as her personal project.  She is determined not to let her daughter's bad judgement cloud the reputation she has built.  Her relationship with her daughter may be ruined, as Emmie fights a battle with a life threatening illness, and could lose custody of her child.

A serious rivalry occurs, and both women engage in a battle of wills.  Both are determined to win no matter what the cost.

Written by Lisa Keith

CRY MERCY

ANN NOLAN, A CALIFORNIA COP, ADOPTS A LITTLE GIRL FORM A WOMAN WHO IS IN JAIL STRUNG OUT ON DRUGS AND THE FATHER IS A DANGEROUS DRUG TRAFFICKER. AS IT TURNS OUT, THE FATHER NEVER HAS ANOTHER CHILD AND HE VOWS TO FIND HIS DAUGHTER TO TAKE HER BACK.

ANN MOVES, CHANGES HER NAME, AND GETS A JOB AT A MISSING PERSONS ORGANIZATION AS A DETECTIVE. SHE AND HER DAUGHTER MAKE FRIENDS AND EVENTUALLY Y EVEN FEEL LIKE FAMILY WITH THE PEOPLE INVOLVED WITH THE ORGANIZATION. TAKING ON HER FIRST CASE, ANN SEARCHES FOR A MAN'S NIECE WHO HAS DISAPPEARED FROM COLLEGE.

"CRY MERCY" BY, MARIAH STEWART, IS AN EXTREMELY INTERESTING, AND SUSPENSEFUL MYSTERY. IT HAS A TOUCH OF ROMANCE, AND EVEN SOME DEGREE OF CHRISTIANITY. THE CHARACTERS ARE REALISTIC AND INTERESTING AND BY THE END OF THE BOOK, I FELT AS IF I KNEW THE CHARACTERS. I CAN'T WAIT FOR THE
NEXT BOOK!!

The Lace Reader

By Brunonia Barry

Towner, Sophya Whitney, thinks that she is free from Salem, Massachusetts, her past and her family’s uncanny ability to read fortunes in lace. That is until she learns her beloved Great-Aunt Eva, has disappeared.

Arriving back in Salem, Towner soon learns Eva drowned. Her suspicions of foul play are compounded by the disappearance of an abused girl under the thrall of a local cult leader and enemy of Eva’s, but given Towner’s history of hallucinatory visions and self-harm few believe her.

Drawn back into a world of clairvoyants, witches and crazed cults, Towner must navigate her way with the help of a cop, John Rafferty, and local witch, Anne Chase. But to learn the truth of Eva’s death and Angela’s disappearance, Towner must stop running and piece together her past from the lies and half-truths in her hallucinations and the lace.

Barry’s quirky depiction of Salem’s small town life with the bizarre characters one expects of a town famous for its witch trials is truly mesmerizing. An excellent backdrop for this chilling, yet compelling novel of magic, mystery and dark secrets spun together with wit and dreams, abuse and the true meaning of family.

Part of my 100+ Reading challenge

Trustee from the Toolroom by Nevil Shute

Keith Stewart is a hard working, good man who loves job.  Having given up advancement as an engineer, he lives quietly in London creating miniature models and writing for a mechanic magazine.  When his sister and brother-in-law decide to immigrate to Vancouver, using their own sailing boat, they ask Keith and his wife to look after their daughter, Janice, until they arrive.  As the laws about taking money out of Britain mean they would have to leave most of their money and jewelry behind, they ask Keith to help them hid a jewelry box on the boat.

When disaster strikes and the little boat goes down just off of the islands of Tahiti, Keith realizes the box he helped to hid must contain all of their life savings. Never having left England before, but wanting to do his best for Janice, Keith sets out on a journey to Tahiti. Not knowing how he is going to get there or how he will pay his way, Keith finds help in unexpected places.

This charming novel highlights the honesty and integrity of ordinary people and how even small kindnesses can have effects that pay you back tenfold.

Part of my 100+ reading challenge

May BCB: The Help by Kathryn Stockett

Product Description
Three ordinary women are about to take one extraordinary step.

Twenty-two-year-old Skeeter has just returned home after graduating from Ole Miss. She may have a degree, but it is 1962, Mississippi, and her mother will not be happy till Skeeter has a ring on her finger. Skeeter would normally find solace with her beloved maid Constantine, the woman who raised her, but Constantine has disappeared and no one will tell Skeeter where she has gone.

Aibileen is a black maid, a wise, regal woman raising her seventeenth white child. Something has shifted inside her after the loss of her own son, who died while his bosses looked the other way. She is devoted to the little girl she looks after, though she knows both their hearts may be broken.

Minny, Aibileen’s best friend, is short, fat, and perhaps the sassiest woman in Mississippi. She can cook like nobody’s business, but she can’t mind her tongue, so she’s lost yet another job. Minny finally finds a position working for someone too new to town to know her reputation. But her new boss has secrets of her own.

Seemingly as different from one another as can be, these women will nonetheless come together for a clandestine project that will put them all at risk. And why? Because they are suffocating within the lines that define their town and their times. And sometimes lines are made to be crossed.

In pitch-perfect voices, Kathryn Stockett creates three extraordinary women whose determination to start a movement of their own forever changes a town, and the way women—mothers, daughters, caregivers, friends—view one another. A deeply moving novel filled with poignancy, humor, and hope, The Help is a timeless and universal story about the lines we abide by, and the ones we don’t.

Taken from Amazon.com

The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova

Three journeys, one destination. All begun with the finding of a mysterious book.

When a young girl finds an ancient book, blank except for a woodcut of a dragon set in the middle, and some old letters addressed to: “ My dear and unfortunate successor,” in her father’s study her curiosity is aroused. Reluctant to explain, but feeling he has no choice, her father, Paul, begins to unfold the mysterious and terrifying events of some 20 years earlier.

The old book had inexplicably appeared on his study carrel, when Paul was a student. Taking the volume to his friend and mentor Professor Bartolomew Rossi, he learned Professor Rossi had received a book with the same woodcut some years early. In an attempt to stop Paul from researching what he perceives as a dangerous volume, Rossi tells his own tale of the long search for the meaning of the dragon and his discovery of its link to Dracula, Vlad the Impaler, the cruel ruler of Wallachia and his burial site. Rossi disappears that same night and despite his fear Paul begins a search for Dracula’s tomb aided by Helen Rossi, the professor’s daughter.

But when Paul himself disappears before finishing the tale, his daughter begins her own research in Vlad Tepes, determined to follow him.

Skillful woven together to illuminate history and the political tensions of Europe, as our characters are led in and out of Eastern Europe on the tail of an evil far greater than any of them had ever imagined.

Part of by 100+ book challenge

People of the Book by Geraldine Brooks

When a 15th century illuminated Haggadah, which disappeared during the fighting in Sarajevo, turns up during the ceasefire in 1996, Hanna Heath, an Australian book conservator, is sent by the UN to document and repair it. Within the pages she finds an insect wing, a wine stain, salt crystals, and a white hair, clues that will unlock the history of the book which has survived centuries of Jewish persecution.

As Hanna crosses the globe to speak with experts in her field pursuing the clues scientifically, the reader is plunged into a journey that will wind through the ages from Nazi Germany to the Spanish Inquisition as people of the book tell their own stories and risk their lives to preserve the book.

Narrated by Edwina Wren, whose authentic mimicry of dialects lends weight and realism to the stories in "People of the Book".

To request a copy from the JCLC catalog, click here!

The Patriot (The Motion Picture)

I just recently enjoyed watching The Patriot. This movie, set in the time of America's revolutionary war, tells how one family perseveres through great loss and hardship.

The oldest son, Gabriel Martin, (Heath Ledger) decides to join the Continental Army against the wishes of his father(Mel Gibson). Soon afterward, Gabriel finds that his father has also joined as a result of his youngest brother being killed by the British Army. Father and son fight side by side through many bloody battles until Gabriel is killed by the same soldier who shot Thomas, his youngest brother.

The movie culminates in a vicious battle where the father ultimately gets his revenge. I enjoyed the movie for its authenticity and attention to details of the Revolutionary War.

To request your copy from the JCLC catalog click here

Written by Lisa Keith.