St. Patrick’s Day has come and gone but the Irish spirit dominates in Heart and Soul, the latest novel by best-selling author Maeve Binchy.
Dr. Clara Casey assumes the position as director of an underfunded heart clinic in Dublin. This position is seen a step backwards in her career but she is determined to provide her best effort during the year she has agreed to remain as director. Her life and the lives of the clinic’s staff and patients provide the storyline.
There are numerous characters to keep track of, but each offers a unique perspective that is vital to the storytelling. Readers familiar with Binchy’s other novels will recognize old friends and welcome new ones. The reprise of minor characters does not represent laziness but a melding of generations with complex and compelling circumstances. Her gentle writing style is graced with humor and compassion and will appeal to any reader who loves a good story told by a talented author. -Linda (Downtown)
There are only two more days to enter our giveaway of Curtis Sittenfeld's American Wife. Enter now for your chance to win a copy of this novel that is based on the life of Laura Bush.
I’ve recently been obsessed with short stories so when I saw this attractive little volume on the new books shelf, I decided to give these stories a whirl and I am so glad I did. Groff is a wonderful writer who uses beautiful and accessible imagery to illustrate her stories that center on the themes of struggling to find your true self and make sense of the restrictions and boundaries that we and others set for us. The best stories in this collection are the title story “Delicate, Edible Birds” about 5 journalists fleeing Paris during World War II, “Blythe” about a poet who gets caught up in the life of her wild and reckless friend, and “Watershed” about a woman who returns to her small hometown to get married and confronts tragedy. Even if you don’t normally read short stories, I would suggest that you try this author who has also published a novel, The Monsters of Templeton. - Anbolyn (Downtown)
Are you happy? It's hard to be optimistic when the economic news is grim - but scientific research shows much of our individual happiness lies in our own efforts. External events account for only 10% of our response to life, 50% results from our predetermined "set points," and an astonishing 40% is within our power to change! So where do we start?
Drawing on her own research with thousands of people, author and psychologist Lyubomirsky (http://blogs.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-how-happiness) has pioneered a detailed yet easy-to-follow plan to increase happiness in our day-to-day lives--in the short and long term. This book that offers a guide to understanding what happiness is and isn't, and what can be done to bring us all closer to the happy life we envision. Using more than a dozen happiness-increasing strategies, it offers a new way to understand our innate potential for joy and happiness as well as our ability to sustain it in our lives. - Lynne (Downtown)
A mysterious place of water, mud, tigers, crocodiles and dolphins stars in The Hungry Tide by Amitav Ghosh, read by Firdous Bamji, and reviewed by Star Lawrence.
The Sunderbans, on the border between India and Bangladesh, sounds like a half-mythical fairyland of goddesses, tigers and marvelous creatures of yore, but this story is set in both the present day and a generation before. Ghosh weaves together the two journeys of Nirmal, a Rilke-loving revolutionary wannabee, and Piya, an Indian-born American scientist studying fresh-water dolphins in this watery world.
The real star of the show is this archipelago of islands and rivers fed by the tides, rising and falling each day. The mangrove forests are home to huge tigers, who attack and kill several inhabitants each month. Giant crocs bask on the banks of the heaving rivers. And the Irrawaddy dolphins, friendly as piglets, poke their heads from the stream to regard their chronicler.
Nirmal’s story is one of an idealist married to a social activist. He finally retires from teaching and, half in love with a young widow with a son, gets involved in an illegal takeover of one of the islands by Bangledeshi refugees. The second story comes a generation later, when that single mother’s son, Fokir, also married to a no-nonsense, modern woman, meets Piya, the American cetologist studying dolphins. Common to both stories in Nirmal’s nephew, Kanai, a rich businessman and translator, who is also attracted to Piya.
The love stories tremble beneath the surface, barely rising visibly in the same way the rivers rise with the tides each day.
I am a 21st century woman sitting in the desert in Chandler, AZ, and this story gently tugged me in. I lived for a few days in a world where you can’t sleep untroubled on the deck of a boat anchored in the middle of a river. Tigers can swim for miles.
The reader, Firdous Bamji, is flatout fantastic—keeping the timbre and accents of each character separate, no mean feat.
As the residents of Sunderban learn to walk in calf-deep mud on the tidal beaches of their waterways, I learned to almost smell and taste the fires, the musky tiger fur, and the understated yearning of hearts trying to connect and never quite touching before being borne away on the tides.
Cutting for Stone is one of those books that sweeps you away. It is an epic tale of family, love, loyalty and betrayal that is set in the unfamiliar landscape of Ethiopia. Conjoined twin boys, Marion and Shiva, are born in a harrowing and traumatic scene as their mother, who is a nun, lies dying on the operating table. Their presumed father abandons them and they are adopted by Hema and Ghosh, Indian doctors who work at Missing Hospital, where the poor and suffering people of Addis Ababa are treated. The story glides through the decades of their youth, detailing the formation of the boys’ very differing personalities, the changes in the Ethiopian government and the way that medicine and the experience of growing up at the indigent hospital shapes their future lives and professions. An act of betrayal eventually splits Marion and Shiva apart and its consequences rebound through the years affecting every aspect of not only their lives, but their family's as well.
This is a first person narrative, told from the viewpoint of Marion. Written very descriptively with lush depictions of the Ethiopian vista and vivid portrayals of surgical procedures, the story is beguiling in its ability to pull you into the lives of this unusual family. If you enjoy winding sagas with engaging and memorable characters, try Cutting for Stone. - Anbolyn (Downtown)
Are you a job seeker? Do you know someone who is looking for a job? In today's economy most of us probably fit into one of these catagories. The Chandler Public Library would like to help. Check out the newly revamped Job Resources page on our website. We've collected useful websites and addresses to help with your search. The Downtown Library is also hosting a resume writing program that will assist you in making your resume a powerful tool in helping you find employment. Free Resume Writing WorkshopSaturday, March 281-3 pmDowntown LibraryPlease call 480-782-2803 or click here to register.
Calm collected Virgil Cole is summoned to become the new Marshal in the 1800s in Appaloosa Colorado, along with his Deputy Everett Hitch, to try and restore peace in a town taken over by a corrupt rancher Randall Bragg, and his thieving low life ranch hands. Bragg and his men killed the previous Marshal and one of his deputies, and Cole and Hitch see that Bragg is arrested and tried, but on his way to be executed, hired gunmen rescue Bragg, and the familiar Western chase is on. Add into the picture newcomer in town, pretty Allison French, who is more trouble than she is worth. Allie has her eye on the head honcho, Cole, and digs her spurs in pretty tight. Cole’s inexperience with women leaves him wide open for Allie’s wiles, and he is unwilling to see beyond her malevolent heart. Later in the book, Bragg returns to Appaloosa, a pardoned man from the President, and lots of money burning a hole in his pocket. He quickly buys out businesses in town, and who do you think is the head honcho now?
Parker develops a strong bond between Cole and Hitch, an intuitive relationship revealed by a glance, gesture or even silence. A surprise ending shows just how important this relationship is.
Appaloosa is one of the few westerns that Robert Parker has written, who is known for his Spenser character in his mystery books. Parker develops a strong relationship between the two main characters Cole and Hitch in a nonverbal kind of way. The storyline is a typical western with gunfights, Indians, a chase through the mountains, a train ride, and of course a romance. The book centers more on the relationship, and the story line, and not a lot of character development. Parker also shows a connection between the main characters and the Appaloosa horse, where they each will take care of their family and women no matter what, but try to abide by the established rules within their environment. Appaloosa will appeal to Western fans, and is now a major motion picture. - Saren (Downtown)
Next weekend the Tucson Festival of Books will be held on the campus of the University of Arizona. Authors as diverse as Elmore Leonard, Gail Carson Levine, Jacqueline Winspear and Elmer Kelton will be on hand to discuss their work and the writing process. If you're a book lover, this festival is definitely worth a trip south.
Lieutenant Charles Acland is referred to a psychiatrist after a devastating attack on his regiment in Iraq leaves him brutally scarred. But the doctors are less concerned about his physical damage than about his mental state - cold and distant, almost careless about his heavily scarred face, but prone to sudden bursts of violence. When three men are beaten to death, and a fourth wounded victim identifies Acland as his attacker, Acland is called further into question. But is he linked to the attacks? Or is his volatile condition the result of, as his doctor calls it, the deliberate destruction of a personality?
British writer Minette Walters is the author of numerous acclaimed mystery novels. She crafts suspenseful and disturbing stories with intriguing twists, but her real strength is her compelling characters. Her other titles include The Sculptress, in which a struggling journalist becomes obsessed with the convicted murderer she’s interviewing, and The Devil’s Feather, about a war correspondent whose nightmares are haunted by tortures she cannot quite remember. In Acid Row, Walters examines the personalities of an entire neighborhood, which is thrown into violent turmoil when the residents learn that a sexual predator may be living among them. - Michelle (Sunset)
St. Patrick’s Day has come and gone but the Irish spirit dominates in Heart and Soul, the latest novel by best-selling author Maeve Binchy.
