Reader's Advisory

Review your books online or on paper each week as part of Warm Up to a Good Book! and become eligible for our prize raffle. Prizes include coffee & tea mugs, magnets, and more. If you review your books on paper, please hand in the review sheets at the Reference Desk to enter the raffle. Need a book log to keep track of what you're reading? Click here.

Fact: Brookfield Public Library patrons LOVE mysteries.  We can hardly keep our new mysteries on the shelves.  Our copies of T is for Trespass by Sue Grafton, Book of the Dead by Patricia Cornwell, and Double Cross by Jame Patterson are so popular they still have waiting lists.  So, if you're still waiting for one of the above novels, or just looking for a good mystery try one of the following authors...

• If you like Patricia Cornwell, try Linda Fairstein's Alexandra Cooper thrillers.  Start with Final Jeopardy.
• For fans of Sue Grafton, try Sara Paretsky (her V.I. Warshawksi series takes place in Chicago) or Nevada Barr's Anna Pigeon series.
• Mysteries series similar to James Patterson's include John Sandford's Prey series or Jeffrey Deaver's Lincoln Rhyme series.
• For those who enjoy humorous mysteries like Janet Evanovich, try Sarah Strohmeyer's Bubbles Yablonsky series.

Winter is the perfect time of the year to make a cup of hot cocoa (or coffee or tea if you prefer), and curl up in your favorite spot with a good book.  The following books are several of my favorite books that I'd recommend...

• The Alienist by Caleb Carr.  A historical mystery set in Victorian New York City in the late 1800s.   As the "corrupt" NYPD only solves crimes worthy of attention, an unlikely band of detectives is formed to discover the serial killer who is murdering New York City's undesireables. 
• The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas.  This classic tells the story of Edmond Dantes, a man once imprisoned, who after he escapes from prison, sets out to bring revenge on those who betrayed him. 
• Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe by Fannie Flagg.   A story of friendship with humor and mystery mixed in as only Fannie Flagg can write. 
• The Historian  by Elizabeth Kostova.  This novel tells the story of a Historians search for the real Vlad Dracula.
• Les Miserables by Victor Hugo.  Due to its size, this book is a true challenge- but the story behind the Broadway hit musical is even better than the musical.   It's a saga of a group of individuals in France whose stories become intertwined.  Don't be put off by Hugo's tendency to ramble, it's a powerful story that if you are a fan of the classics, you won't regret reading it.
• The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield.  A modern gothic novel about a young woman who is hired to write the biography of a mysterious author.
• The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenigger.   An intriguing love story between a man who has a genetic trait allowing him to travel in time and his ordinary wife.  The movie based on this book is currently in production and is due out in 2008.

Welcome to our Reader's Advisory blog. From January 7 to February 21, this blog will be central login spot and discussion forum for our Adult Winter Reading Program, Warm Up to a Good Book! Register online here and review your books each week to become eligible for prizes. The goal is 5 books in 5 weeks. Throughout the program, our librarians will post here about great new books. You're invited to comment and join other participants in discussion. Just click the "comment" button below. And don't forget! We'll celebrate the end of the program with a Wrap-Up party and discussion on Thursday, February 21. 

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.

It's Sex & the City meets Harry Potter- chick lit gets a magical twist.  Katie Chandler is a too normal Texas girl living in the Big Apple.  At first she writes off the many odd sights in the city as being a "only in New York" thing- but soon she finds out that magic really exists and the city is populated by wizards, elves, fairies & ogres.  As a rare  person who immune to magic, Katie becomes important to the staff at her new job working for Magic, Spells, & Illusions Inc.  In this fun filled series by Shanna Swendson- Katie takes on life in New York City, love and a dark wizard set to take over the world.

I just finished Sue Grafton's latest Kinsey Millhone mystery, T is for Trespass. I'm a big fan of the series and in her latest Grafton does not disappoint. She adds a new element this time, alternating between Kinsey's point of view and the point of view of Solana, identity thief/scam artist extraordinaire. Solana's story intertwines with Kinsey's and the way Grafton builds narrative tension kept me reading. Unfortunately, though, I lost interest in the second storyline dealing with Kinsey's investigation of a Memorial Day weekend car accident. Overall, I think Grafton fans will enjoy this latest installment -- it would make for good airplane/car/train reading on your holiday travels.

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.

Genealogy is now the 2nd most popular hobby  (after gardening)  in the United States.   In light of this October has been dubbed "Family History Month"- a month to inspire us all to start researching and celebrate our families' heritage.   If you need a little assistance and or inspiration in your Genealogy research, check out these great Genealogy books at your library.

• German- English Genealogical Dictionary by Ernest Thode 
• The Family Tree Problem Solver by Marsha Hoffman Rising  
• Finding Your Chicago Ancestors by Grace DuMelle 
• Finding Your Family on the Internet by Michael Otterson
• The How to do Everything with Your Genealogy by George Morgan
• Tracing Your Family History by Lise Hull 
• Tracing Your Irish Ancestors by John Grenham
• Uncovering Your Ancestry Through Family Photographs by Maureen A. Taylor

 For more Genealogy resources check our Genealogy page on the Databases section of our website.   Also, check out About.com's article Ten Ways to Celebrate Family History Month.  

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.