NEW BOOKS

NEW BOOKS FOR THE END OF THE YEAR

After you have finished all that getting-ready-for-Christmas madness, you deserve to be able to kick back in a comfy chair, maybe some quiet music playing: send the kids and whoever else demands your time  somewhere, anywhere. Indulge yourself by reading. And here are some suggestions that I think will interest you and help you bring this year to an end. There's some mystery, of course, but not your mainstream Robert Parker et al. stuff. A couple of adult fiction that reviewers thought were outstanding. A hefty history tome of Teddy Roosevelt and William Howard Taft, Progressives and the Yellow Press. Finally a small clutch of books for your young kids.

I hope you will find something here to enjoy!

Bruno, chief of police by Martin Walker, 2008.

A friend of mine in New Zealand recommended this detective series. Set in the south of France, St Denis (where I always thought reincarnation would take me, but that was before Deering), we meet Benoit Courrèges, AKA Bruno. Bruno is a former soldier who has embraced the pleasures and slow rhythms of country life (sound familiar?). He lives in a shepherd’s cottage, shops in the local markets and distills his own vin de noix. He never uses his gun and he never arrests anybody. His main function is helping his friends and neighbors avoid paying E.U. Inspector’s fines. You might wonder how this bio leads to a detective series! In the first of the series an elderly African who fought in the French army is murdered. The investigations open wounds incurred during the Nazi years and even this bucolic corner of the world is not exempt from history. This is the first of at least four titles in the Bruno series. If this one seems promising, we’ll buy the rest.

My Brilliant Friend. Book One of the Neapolitan Novels by Elena Ferrante, 2012.

This novel is translated from Italian. It the first of a trilogy that involves the intertwined lives of two women living in Naples from the end of WW II until the mid 1970’s. Reviews of the series in NY Review of Books, the NY Times and elsewhere have been excellent. This story begins in 1950 with two urban girls who live in a poor neighborhood in the outskirts of Naples. Their friendship does not always sustain them, and ultimately their lives take different paths but they are always connected and this series is the story of their difficult lives. Neither is a particularly happy story but the story telling by Elena Ferrante is superb. There is actually a mystery as to who Elena Ferrante actually is. Apparently nobody has met her – or him. She, or he, does not give interviews.  I like to think that the stories of these strong women will resonate in the strong women of Deering and that the book will be read. 

Let Me Ne Frank With You. A Frank Bascombe Book by Richard Ford, 2014.

I first heard of this book in an NPR review and then I read a review of it by Michael Dirda (one of my most respected reviewers) in the NY Review of Books. Sounds good!  This book is four longish stories that feature ‘senior citizen’ Frank Bascombe, who was the central character of three earlier novels by Richard Ford (The Sportswriter, the Pulitzer Prize and PEN/Faulkner-winning Independence Day, and The Lay of the Land: none of which are among our library’s holdings – yet). The four linked stories included in Let Me Be Frank With You are set in the post-hurricane Sandy destruction of the New Jersey suburb of Haddam. Quoting from the book’s jacket: The desolation caused by Sandy is reflected in flattened houses and lives. “Yet it is the perfect backdrop for Ford – and Bascombe. With flawless comedic sensibility and unblinking intelligence, these stories range over the full complement of American subjects: aging, race, loss, faith, marriage, redemption, the real-estate crash – the tumult of the world we live in.”

The Burning Room by Michael Connelly, 2014.

Detective Hieronymous “Harry” Bosch of LAPD’s open-unsolved had already retired from LAPD but at the end of an earlier book (The Overlook, 2006) he accepted an option to return to the force in the unsolved unit. In The Burning Room the victim is a mariachi band member who dies from complications of a bullet wound incurred years earlier. The investigation has Bosch teamed up with yet another newby partner, Lucia “Lucy” Soto.  (Bosch goes through partners with gay abandon). There is something ‘off’ about his vexing new partner, and there is something ‘off’ about the murder they are investigating. Maurreen Corrigan, reviewing the book for the Washington Post, says that the book starts out slowly “but the various plots and subplots begin to coalesce about midway through, and it becomes a doozy of a tale. Indeed, so venal is the political corruption at the center of this mystery, and so thick-headed the police bureaucrats who (as always) impede Harry’s investigations, that we get intimations of this as Bosch’s last case. Maybe.” The Burning Room of the title relates to the unsolved arson in a school where several children were killed; just one of the subplots for this mystery.  I found this to be the case with another of his books, The Narrows. I like this series. Crime novels set in Los Angeles are very different from those that take place elsewhere. Just like Times Square evokes the whole idea of New York City, for me Mulholland Drive, or ‘The Valley’ could only be in Los Angeles. The people are different. The air, the sense of place is the ‘new’ West Coast (as though the Continental Railroad was only recently completed and we have the first view of the Pacific Ocean). We have several Michael Connelly books, including at least two CD’s, in our collection. Nobody has taken them out; those of you who read mysteries might enjoy discovering this gritty detective, Harry Bosch.

The Bully Pulpit. Theodore Roosevelt, William Howard Taft and the Golden Age of Journalism by Doris Kearns Goodwin, 2013.

“Americans had long suspected that rich men bought the government. What else could explain the legislation that enabled industrialists to amass fortunes while their uneducated employees — including children — lost their youth, often their eyes or arms, and sometimes their lives on the work floor?” Sound familiar? A little close to home, you might say? Actually this is a summary of the USA at the turn of the 20^th Century, and it introduces the subject of ‘muckraking’ journalism and the journalists, including Ida Tarbell, Ray Stannard Baker and Lincoln Steffens, who revealed rot at the core of industrial prosperity, the corruption that facilitated sale of the government to the one with the most money. The journalism shocked and galvanized regular Americans to retake their nation. (Oh, Ida, where are you now?)  Against this backdrop Theodore Roosevelt and William Howard Taft are elected in succession to the presidency. Roosevelt of ‘Charge up San Juan Hill’ fame cultivates the press, opens the White House to them and generally aggrandizes his own person. Taft, on the other hand, who was much more diffident, reflective, had a completely different relationship with the press. This is the story of how these very different men fostered the Progressive movement in America early in the 20^th Century. It did not last long, the Progressive movement but period in which it did reign was one of the more interesting. Heather Cox Richardson, reviewing the book for the NY Times concludes by saying: “Americans had long suspected that rich men bought the government. What else could explain the legislation that enabled industrialists to amass fortunes while their uneducated employees — including children — lost their youth, often their eyes or arms, and sometimes their lives on the work floor?” It is worthwhile for us to read of this, as they say, eerily familiar period in our national history. It is worthwhile for us to ask when will our own Progressive movement appear?

Following are new books for younger children

Once Upon An Alphabet by Oliver Jeffries, 2014

Goodreads gave this book a 4-star review: “The most inventive and irresistible book of the year spans a mere 26 letters (don't they all!) and 112 pages. From an Astronaut who's afraid of heights, to a Bridge that ends up burned between friends, to a Cup stuck in a cupboard and longing for freedom, Once Upon an Alphabet is a creative tour de force from A through Z. Slyly funny in a way kids can't resist, and gorgeously illustrated in a way readers of all ages will pour over, this series of interconnected stories and characters explores the alphabet in a way that will forever raise the bar.

In Once Upon an Alphabet, #1 New York Times bestseller Oliver Jeffers has created a stunning collection of words and artwork that is a story book, alphabet book, and gorgeously designed art book all in one.”

Why Epossumondas Has No Hair On His Tail by Coleen Sally, 2004

Goodreads rated this with 4 stars. The pictures are a lot of fun, and so is the story. Here is the summary:

Epossumondas has a very important question: "Mama, why don't I have hair on my tail?"

And wouldn't you know it, Mama can tell him exactly why possum tails are all pink and naked and funny looking. Her story's a doozy! It goes way back to Epossumondas's great-great-grandpa, Papapossum. When hungry Papapossum and his growly ol' stomach meet up with wily Hare, cranky Bear, and a persimmon tree . . . well, it's one hair-raisin' adventure!

Renowned storyteller Coleen Salley and Caldecott Honor illustrator Janet Stevens team up again, drawing on the Uncle Remus tradition and their own wild imaginations to expose a hilarious--and important!--moment in possum history.

Wodney Wat’s Wobot by Helen Lester, 2011

Goodreads gave Wodney Wat’s Wobot 3 ½ stars. It was fun to read out loud; lots of sounds. Kids learn that the largest rodent is a capybara…

When Wodney must face off against that big bully Camilla Capybara for a second time, a talking robot becomes his secret weapon. The meek wodent . . . er, rodent . . . hero with a speech impediment and a heart of gold is back! So is Camilla Capybara—the BIG bully who makes poor Wodney and his classmates tremble. But this time, Wodney has a secret weapon: a robot that helps him pronounce his r’s and seems to be just the thing to scare Camilla away for good.

With this second empowering tale about Wodney, Lester and Munsinger use their signature dose of humor to remind us that the little guy can finish first, and it’s often brains—not brawn—that save the day.

The Misadventures of Sweetie Pie by Chris Van Allsburg, 2014

I picked up this book because of it’s author, who gave us the wonderful Polar Express. Reviews are mixed, however.  Parents will probably want to carefully read this before presenting it to younger children. The story is about a hamster that is bought by a kid in a pet store more or less on a whim.  Sweetie Pie is variously abandoned and abused by various children, finally being left out in the snow to freeze. The happy ending comes when Sweetie Pie is adopted by a family of squirrels.

Some reviewers saw this as a tale of resilience in the face of adversity. Most saw it as a terrible story about nasty kids. The art work is Van Allsburg but, as one reviewer commented, Sweetie Pie looks more like some kind of bear than a hamster.

The Spectacular Tale of Peter Rabbit by Emma Thompson , 2014

Goodreads gave this 4.11 Stars. It’s a good story of Peter Rabbit. Of course it’s based on Beatrix Potter. and the book comes with a CD of Emma Thompson reading it. I liked the illustrations, which are of an ‘old’ style that befits our old friend Peter Rabbit. Here’s a summary from Goodreads:

Emma Thompson sends Peter Rabbit to the fair!

A fair has come to the Lake District! And Peter and Benjamin are forbidden to go. Driven by their ever-insatiable curiosity, the rabbits sneak into the fair to have a look-around. Mesmerized by all the activity, the rabbits stand incredibly still, watching. Suddenly, a little girl picks up Peter, declaring him to be her stuffed animal prize! Covered in kisses and stuffed in her bag, Peter Rabbit is taken on his first-ever roller coaster. Benjamin is barely able to rescue Peter, and the two bound home, smelling of the fair.