Marilyn's blog

It's April, Spring has finally arrived, and it's a good time for each of us to consider at least 1 change we can make in our lives that will reduce our impact on the planet and help us live a greener, more environmentally responsible life. If you're in need of an idea or two that will help you practice a more eco-friendly life style, check out our Earth Day display above the "new book" shelves. We've got a great selection of books, one of the newest being LIVING LIKE ED by Ed Begley Jr., a committed environmentalist for the last 30 years. Not only does Mr. Begley share his experiences of what works and what doesn't, he also suggests changes that will save money while, at the same time,help the planet. Mr. Begley professes that we should all "live simply so others may simply live" and our April display provides many suggestions as to how we can easily accomplish that goal.

In this farcical murder mystery, Caldwell takes us to the western shores of Ireland's County Kerry where we meet Aaron McCloud, who, as the story opens, is grieving over a non existant and very unrequited love back home in New York.

Our protagonist soon becomes the unwilling custodian of a very large pig who promptly digs up the skeletal remains of a missing villager. and this hilarious and entertaining story begins.

I found this book to be a pure delight in that it's a farce, a romance, and a literary satire all rolled into one package of amusement. I really enjoyed The Pig Did It and hope you will also.

Water for Elephants is an amazingly well written novel with wonderful characters and an absorbing plot.

In chapters that move from the past to the present day, Jacob Jankowski, while residing in a nursing home, relates the story of his incredible life and adventures with the Benzini Brothers Circus during the difficult days of the Great Depression. According to the author's note at the end of the book, many of the compelling anecdotes in the story were based upon real events, culled from the diaries and personal histories of one time circus performers. As a result, this book is both an entertaining and informative read.

The characters are richly drawn and even the animals have complex personalities that make them a major part of the story.

I believe there's something in this novel for everyone, in that I found it to be equal parts adventure, mystery, fictional memoir, love story, and historical account. I highly recommend Water for Elephants.

Sherman Alexie, the award winning and prolific Native American author and comedian has written his first Young Adult novel called The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian.

This semi-autobiographical tale is the story of Arnold Spirit, a 14 year old who realizes that in order to get a good education and succeed where most of his friends and family have failed, he will have to leave the reservation and attend the all white school in a neighboring all white town.

In what reads a bit like a Native American Angela's Ashes, Alexie's novel takes the reader through the emotional gamut of side splitting laughter, grit wrenching grief, and seething anger- often all at the same time.

While billed as a "novel for Young Adults", "Diary" will richly reward the attention of any adult reader. I found it to be extremely entertaining, and I'm looking forward to reading this charming book again.

This historical, well written novel, is the story of the lives and the love between Mamah Borthwick Cheney and Frank Lloyd Wright during the early part of the 20th century.

Horan has written a complicated true story and introduced us to the complex love affair between Wright and the unconventional, educated, scholarly, and forward thinking woman that was Mamah Cheney. At the same time, we're given an insight into the true character of the famous architect and the visions behind his work. The settings take us to the places in Europe visited by the pair, and the various locations are painted with eloquent prose.

This book, while extremely entertaining, is also informative, satisfying, and left me wanting to learn more about the architect, Mamah Cheney, and the women's movement of the early 1900's.

I highly recommend Loving Frank by Nancy Horan.

In 1989, Ken Follett thrilled readers with his best selling book of all time, Pillars of the Earth. It's been a long wait, but Follett has finally written the most anticipated sequel of the year, World Without End.

This epic, historical novel takes place in the same town of Kingsbridge, 2 centuries after the building of its exquisite Gothic cathedral, told of so thrillingly in Pillars of the Earth. But this sequel is a fine example of historical fiction at its best. This time the men and women of an extraordinary cast of characters find themselves at a crossroad of new ideas-about medicine, commerce, architecture, and justice. In Follett's own inimitable way, intrigue and tension reach a boiling point against the devastating backdrop of the greatest natural disaster ever to strike the human race- the Black Death.

Three years in the writing, and nearly eighteen years since its predecessor, World Without End demonstrates that Ken Follett is still a masterful author writing at the top of his craft.

Once again, Kathy Reichs takes us to the world of Temperance Brennan, a brilliant, sexy, forensic anthropologist called on to solve the toughest cases.

In Bones to Ashes, Tempe receives more than just another assignment with the discovery of a young girl's skeleton in Acadia, Canada. When the bones are determined to be those of an adolescent girl, Brennan is convinced they belong to her childhood friend Evangeline, who disappeared many years earlier. And what is the meaning of the strange skeletal lesions found on these bones?

If you're interested in a light, interesting read, you might want to try Bones to Ashes by Kathy Reichs.

Khaled Hosseini, the author of The Kite Runner, has written a majestic, sweeping, and emotionally powerful story that provides the reader with a most telling window into Afghan society over the past thirty-odd years. It's also a moving story of friendship and sacrifice, giving Western readers a rare glimpse into the suffering and mistreatment of Afghan women that began long before the Taliban came to power. All things considered, following up on a successful first novel is probably harder than coming up with the original effort and Hosseini could have rested on his laurels in the manner of Harper Lee, but as "A Thousand Splendid Suns" amply proves, this native of Kabul has more stories to tell about the land of Afghanistan. This engrossing read, with its richly descriptive prose, could likely be remembered as one of 2007's best novels.

Just two days after marrying Sheriff Paul Davidson, Anna Pigeon moves to Colorado to assume her new post as district ranger at Rocky Mountain National Park. When two of three children who'd gone missing from a religious retreat reappear, Anna's investigation brings her face to face with a paranoid sect and takes the reader to an unexpected conclusion in one of Barr's best mysteries to date.