The November LibraryReads List!

The latest batch of librarian favorites are here! We've included descriptions* below and you can head to the LibraryReads website to see brief reviews submitted by librarians. We'd love to hear what you think about the titles, so if you love it or hate it be sure to let us know!

Bellman & Black by Diane Setterfield
Published: November 5, 2013

Caught up in a moment of boyhood competition, William Bellman recklessly aims his slingshot at a rook resting on a branch, killing the bird instantly. It is a small but cruel act, and is soon forgotten. By the time he is grown, with a wife and children of his own, William seems to have put the whole incident behind him. It was as if he never killed the thing at all. But rooks don t forget . . . Years later, when a stranger mysteriously enters William s life, his fortunes begin to turn and the terrible and unforeseen consequences of his past indiscretion take root. In a desperate bid to save the only precious thing he has left, he enters into a rather strange bargain, with an even stranger partner. Together, they found a decidedly macabre business. And Bellman & Black is born.

Through the Evil Days: A Clare Fergusson/Russ Van Alstyne Mystery by Julia Spencer-Fleming
Published: November 5, 2013

The eighth book in the series begins on a frigid January night, Chief of Police Russ Van Alstyne and Reverend Clare Fergusson are called to the scene of a raging fire, that quickly becomes a double homicide and kidnapping. Which is the very last thing Russ needs...Currently he's struggling with the prospect of impending fatherhood. And his new wife is not at all happy with his proposal for their long-delayed honeymoon: a week in an unelectrified ice-fishing cabin. The vestry of St. Alban's Church has called for the bishop to investigate Clare's "unpriestly" pregnancy. She has one week to find out if she will be scolded, censured, or suspended from her duties. Officer Hadley Knox is having a miserable January as well. Her on-again-off-again lover, Kevin Flynn, has seven days to weigh an offer from the Syracuse Police Department that might take him half a state away. As the days and hours tick by, Russ and Clare fight personal and professional battles they've never encountered. In the course of this one tumultuous week the lives of the Millers-Kill residents readers have come to love and cherish change forever.

The Death of Santini: The Story of a Father and His Son by Pat Conroy
Published: October 29, 2013

While the publication of The Great Santini brought Pat Conroy much acclaim, the rift it caused with his father brought even more attention. Their long-simmering conflict burst into the open, fracturing an already battered family. But as Pat tenderly chronicles here, even the oldest of wounds can heal. In the final years of Don Conroy's life, he and his son reached a rapprochement of sorts. Quite unexpectedly, the Santini who had freely doled out physical abuse to his wife and children refocused his ire on those who had turned on Pat over the years. The Death of Santini is at once a heart-wrenching account of personal and family struggle and a poignant lesson in how the ties of blood can both strangle and offer succor. It is an act of reckoning, an exorcism of demons, but one whose ultimate conclusion is that love can soften even the meanest of men, lending significance to one of the most-often quoted lines from Pat's bestselling novel The Prince of Tides: "In families there are no crimes beyond forgiveness."

Someone Else’s Love Story by Joshilyn Jackson
Published: November 19, 2013

For single mom Shandi Pierce, life is a juggling act. She's finishing college; raising her delightful three-year-old genius son, Nathan, aka Natty Bumppo; and keeping the peace between her eternally warring, long-divorced Christian mother and Jewish father. She's got enough to deal with before she gets caught in the middle of a stickup in a gas station mini-mart and falls in love with a great wall of a man named William Ashe, who steps between the armed robber and her son to shield the child from danger. Shandi doesn't know that her blond god has his own baggage. When he looked down the barrel of the gun in the gas station he believed it was destiny: it's been exactly one year since a tragic act of physics shattered his universe. But William doesn't define destiny the way other people do. A brilliant geneticist who believes in science and numbers, destiny to him is about choice. Now, William and Shandi are about to meet their so-called destinies head-on, making choices that will reveal unexpected truths about love, life, and the world they think they know.

The Valley of Amazement by Amy Tan
Published: November 5, 2013

Shanghai, 1912. Violet Minturn is the daughter of the American madam of the city's most exclusive courtesan house. When political upheaval separates Violet from her mother, she is forced to become a "virgin courtesan." Half-Chinese, half-American, Violet grapples with her place in the worlds of East and West--until she merges her two identities to become a shrewd courtesan, though privately she still struggles to understand who she is. San Francisco, 1897. Violet's mother chooses a disastrous course as a sixteen-year-old, following a Chinese painter to Shanghai, where she finds herself shocked by her lover's adherence to Chinese traditions. Fueled by betrayals, both women refuse to submit to fate, persisting in their quests to recover what was taken from them: respect; a secure future; and love, from their parents, husbands, and children.

Lies You Wanted to Hear by James Whitfield Thomson
Published: November 5, 2013

Alone in an empty house, Lucy tries to imagine the lives of her two young children. They have been gone for seven years, and she is tormented by the role she played in that heartbreaking loss. You can hardly see a glimpse of the sexy, edgy woman she used to be. Back then, she was a magnet for men like Matt, who loved her beyond reason, and Griffin, who wouldn't let go but always left her wanting more. Now the lies they told and the choices they made have come to haunt all three of them.

The Cartographer of No Man’s Land by P. S. Duffy
Published: October 28, 2013

When adventurous Ebbin goes missing at the front in 1916, Angus defies his pacifist upbringing to join the war and search for his beloved brother-in-law. With his navigation experience, Angus is assured a position as a cartographer in London. But upon arriving overseas he is instead sent directly into the trenches, where he experiences the visceral shock of battle. Meanwhile, at home, his perceptive son Simon Peter must navigate escalating hostility in a fishing village torn by grief and a rising suspicion of anyone expressing less than patriotic enthusiasm for the war.

The Raven’s Eye: A Brock and Kolla Mystery by Barry Maitland
Published: November 12, 2013

DI Kathy Kolla of Scotland Yard is called in as a matter of course by the local Paddington police when a woman turns up dead in what appears to be an accident. On her houseboat, Vicky Hawks is found by one of her neighbors having apparently succumbed to carbon monoxide poisoning due to improper ventilation of the narrowboat's heating system. But while the cause of death seems apparent and there's no reason for Kolla to think otherwise, something about this death still bothers her. Meanwhile, her boss, DCI Brock, is wrestling with harsh budget cuts and a new Commander who is determined to make fundamental changes to the system--including limiting resources devoted to investigations. Struggling against the limitations imposed by the new order at Scotland Yard, Brock and Kolla find themselves pulling at the loose strings in the death of Vicky Hawks, trying to find out who she really was, what she was up to, and how her death might be related to another earlier tragic accidental death.

Death of a Nightingale by Lene Kaaberbol and Agnete Friis
Published: November 5, 2013

Nina. Natasha. Olga. Three women united by one terrifying secret. But only one of them has killed to keep it. Natasha Doroshenko, a Ukrainian woman who has been convicted of the attempted murder of her Danish fiancé, escapes police custody on her way to an interrogation in Copenhagen's police headquarters. That night, the frozen, tortured body of Michael, the ex-fiancé, is found in a car, and the manhunt for Natasha escalates. It isn't the first time the young Ukrainian woman has lost a partner to violent ends: her first husband was also murdered, three years earlier in Kiev, and in the same manner: tortured to death in a car. Danish Red Cross nurse Nina Borg has been following Natasha's case for several years now, since Natasha first took refuge at a crisis center where Nina works. Nina, who had tried to help Natasha leave her abusive fiancé more than once, just can't see the young Ukrainian mother as a vicious killer. But in her effort to protect Natasha's daughter and discover the truth, Nina realizes there is much she didn't know about this woman and her past. The mystery has long and bloody roots, going back to a terrible famine that devastated Stalinist Ukraine in 1934, when a ten-year-old girl with the voice of a nightingale sang her family into shallow graves.

Parasite by Mira Grant
Published: October 29, 2013

A decade in the future, humanity thrives in the absence of sickness and disease. We owe our good health to a humble parasite - a genetically engineered tapeworm developed by the pioneering SymboGen Corporation. When implanted, the Intestinal Bodyguard worm protects us from illness, boosts our immune system - even secretes designer drugs. It's been successful beyond the scientists' wildest dreams. Now, years on, almost every human being has a SymboGen tapeworm living within them. But these parasites are getting restless. They want their own lives . . . and will do anything to get them.

So...which one will you read first? If you need help placing a hold with your Chandler Public Library card, give us a call at 480-782-2800.

If you'd like more book recommendations, browse our Book Lists page or check out the previous LibraryReads lists. 

*Book descriptions from the publisher.

Book Review: Poppet

Four years ago, a patient at a secure psychiatric facility was discovered dead, following rumors of a ghost that was tormenting her. AJ, the senior nursing coordinator at the facility, remembers how difficult it was to quiet the rumor... but now it's happening again. Patients talk of the ghost walking through the hallways, invading their rooms, sitting on their chests. Two patients are driven to gruesome episodes of self-harm, and one soon dies under questionable circumstances. AJ starts to doubt his own judgments - did he see someone lurking outside the window? Can he trust Melanie, the facility director, who seems anxious to cover up the incidents? Should he go to the police, and jeopardize the relationship he's just started with Melanie? But the police have problems of their own. Detective Jack Caffery has been haunted by an unsolved case, and he must convince the person he's been covering for to finally come forward.

Poppet is the latest novel by award-winning mystery author Mo Hayder. The sixth title to feature Jack Caffery, it's an easy introduction for anyone new to the series. Hayder's novels are known for their twists - things are rarely as straightforward as they seem. But she is also a master of character psychology, both the disturbing minds of the criminals, and those of the investigators, who are often not much less disturbed. - Michelle (Sunset)

Book Review: Cool Gray City of Love

Few cities have such a place in the American imagination as San Francisco, and few writers know San Francisco as well as long-time resident and journalist Gary Kamiya. In Cool Gray City of Love, Kamiya takes us on a walk around his favorite town, going chapter-by-chapter through various neighborhoods and sites, as well as through the city's cultural, political, and even geological history. He takes us through the Presidio, with its history of somewhat bungled conquest; through the wild artificiality of Golden Gate Park, a garden claimed from sand dunes; through Japantown, with its undercurrent of both racial oppression and interracial cooperation; through the Tenderloin, a slum that continues to occupy prime real estate in one of the most expensive cities in the world because - as Kamiya says - the city wants it to. Reading these fascinating, funny, and often bittersweet stories does more than give you a local expert's view of San Francisco. It shows you what it means to love a place deeply, in all its tragedy and beauty. - Michelle (Sunset)

Library Closed - Get info on the Affordable Care Act

All four Chandler Public Libraries will be closed on Columbus Day, Monday, October 14, for staff training. Regular hours will resume on Tuesday, October 15. (Hamilton and Basha branches open at 9:00 a.m. on October 15 and return to their regular 7:30 a.m. opening on Wednesday, October 16.)

Questions about the Affordable Care Act? As a community information resource, the library has collected information about ACA in one location. Visit the ACA page on our website for important dates, what you need to apply, and relevant websites and phone numbers.

Please note: Library staff are NOT healthcare specialists and CANNOT advise you on the healthcare plan you should choose. Please visit our ACA page for phone numbers to call if you have questions.

Book Review: Longbourn

Sarah is a brave, hardworking young woman employed by the Bennett family. When the Bingley family comes to the neighborhood AND the Bennetts hire a new footman, things begin changing in Sarah's world. And it's a world I've always been curious about...

Every time I read a Jane Austen novel, I think about what's going on in the world outside the houses and small villages the stories take place in. Austen gives you a very insular view of the world and I don't mean that in a bad way, but you just get tiny glimpses if you get any at all.

Longbourn filled in some of those gaps about the life for the other half of British society in Regency England. It could easily stand alone, and you don't have to be a fan of Pride and Prejudice to love the story here. I think it will appeal to fans of Downton Abbey or Upstairs, Downstairs and even to general historical fiction fans. - Melissa (Downtown)

The October LibraryReads List!

Wait...what is LibraryReads? A list of new or soon-to-be published titles selected and recommended by librarians and library staff from across the country. We've included descriptions* below and you can head to the LibraryReads website to see brief reviews submitted by librarians. We'd love to hear what you think about the titles, so if you love it or hate it be sure to let us know!

The Rosie Project by Graeme Simsion
Published: October 1, 2013

Don Tillman, professor of genetics, has never been on a second date. He is a man who can count all his friends on the fingers of one hand, whose lifelong difficulty with social rituals has convinced him that he is simply not wired for romance. So when an acquaintance informs him that he would make a "wonderful" husband, his first reaction is shock. Yet he must concede to the statistical probability that there is someone for everyone, and he embarks upon The Wife Project. In the orderly, evidence-based manner with which he approaches all things, Don sets out to find the perfect partner.

Longbourn by Jo Baker
Published: October 8, 2013

In this irresistibly imagined belowstairs answer to Pride and Prejudice, the servants take center stage. Sarah, the orphaned housemaid, spends her days scrubbing the laundry, polishing the floors, and emptying the chamber pots for the Bennet household. But there is just as much romance, heartbreak, and intrigue downstairs at Longbourn as there is upstairs. When a mysterious new footman arrives, the orderly realm of the servants’ hall threatens to be completely, perhaps irrevocably, upended.

The Lowland by Jhumpa Lahiri
Published: September 24, 2013

Growing up in Calcutta, born just fifteen months apart, Subhash and Udayan Mitra are inseparable brothers, one often mistaken for the other. But they are also opposites, with gravely different futures ahead of them. It is the 1960s, and Udayan-charismatic and impulsive-finds himself drawn to the Naxalite movement, a rebellion waged to eradicate inequity and poverty: he will give everything, risk all, for what he believes. Subhash, the dutiful son, does not share his brother's political passion; he leaves home to pursue a life of scientific research in a quiet, coastal corner of America. But when Subhash learns what happened to his brother in the lowland outside their family's home, he comes back to India, hoping to pick up the pieces of a shattered family, and to heal the wounds Udayan left behind-including those seared in the heart of his brother's wife.

Cartwheel by Jennifer duBois
Published: September 24, 2013

When Lily Hayes arrives in Buenos Aires for her semester abroad, she is enchanted by everything she encounters: the colorful buildings, the street food, the handsome, elusive man next door. Her studious roommate Katy is a bit of a bore, but Lily didn’t come to Argentina to hang out with other Americans. Five weeks later, Katy is found brutally murdered in their shared home, and Lily is the prime suspect. But who is Lily Hayes? It depends on who’s asking. As the case takes shape—revealing deceptions, secrets, and suspicious DNA—Lily appears alternately sinister and guileless through the eyes of those around her: the media, her family, the man who loves her and the man who seeks her conviction.

Hawthorn & Child by Keith Ridgway
Published: September 23, 2013

Hawthorn and Child are mid-ranking London detectives tasked with finding significance in scattered facts. They are comic ghosts - one white and gay, one black and straight - turning up repeatedly and ineffectively to haunt the scene of some catastrophe or another, appearing and disappearing along with a ghost car, a crime boss, a pickpocket, a dead race-car driver, and a pack of wolves. Mysteries are everywhere, but the biggest of all is our mysterious - and hopeless - compulsion to solve them.

The Stop: How the Fight for Good Food Transformed a Community and Inspired a Movement by Nick Saul & Andrea Curtis
Published: September 24, 2013

In 1998, when Nick Saul became executive director of The Stop, the little urban food bank was like thousands of other cramped, dreary, makeshift spaces, a last-hope refuge where desperate people could stave off hunger for one more day with a hamper full of canned salt, sugar and fat. The produce was wilted and the packaged foods were food-industry castoffs—mislabeled products and misguided experiments that no one wanted to buy. For users of the food bank, knowing that this was their best bet for a meal was a humiliating experience. Since that time, The Stop has undergone a radical reinvention. Participation has overcome embarrassment, and the isolation of poverty has been replaced with a vibrant community that uses food to build hope and skills, and to reach out to those who need a meal, a hand and a voice.

We Are Water by Wally Lamb
Published: October 22, 2013

After 27 years of marriage and three children, Anna Oh--wife, mother, outsider artist--has fallen in love with Viveca, the wealthy Manhattan art dealer who orchestrated her success. They plan to wed in the Oh family's hometown of Three Rivers in Connecticut. But the wedding provokes some very mixed reactions and opens a Pandora's Box of toxic secrets--dark and painful truths that have festered below the surface of the Ohs' lives.

The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt
Published: October 22, 2013

A young boy in New York City, Theo Decker, miraculously survives an accident that takes the life of his mother. Alone and abandoned by his father, Theo is taken in by a friends family and struggles to make sense of his new life. In the years that follow, he becomes entranced by one of the few things that reminds him of his mother: a small, mysteriously captivating painting that ultimately draws Theo into the art underworld.

The Tilted World by Tom Franklin & Beth Ann Fennelly
Published: October 1, 2013

The year is 1927. As rains swell the Mississippi, the mighty river threatens to burst its banks and engulf all in its path, including federal revenue agent Ted Ingersoll and his partner, Ham Johnson. Arriving in the tiny hamlet of Hobnob, Mississippi, to investigate the disappearance of two fellow agents on the trail of a local bootlegger, they unexpectedly find an abandoned baby boy at a crime scene.

Hunting Season: Immigration and Murder in an All-American Town by Mirta Ojito
Published: October 15, 2013

In November of 2008, Marcelo Lucero, a thirty-seven-year-old undocumented Ecuadorean immigrant, was brutally attacked and murdered by a group of teenagers as he walked the streets of Patchogue, a quiet Long Island town. The teenaged attackers were out "hunting for beaners," their slur for Latinos, and Lucero was to become another victim of the anti-immigration fever spreading in the United States. But in death, Lucero's name became a symbol of everything that was wrong with our broken immigration system: porous borders, lax law enforcement, and the rise of bigotry. With a strong commitment to telling all sides of the story, journalist Mirta Ojito unravels the engrossing narrative with objectivity and insight, providing an invaluable peephole into one of American's most pressing issues.

So...which one will you read first? If you need help placing a hold with your Chandler Public Library card, give us a call at 480-782-2800.

If you'd like more book recommendations, stay tuned to our Facebook page for our next "Book Recs" session, browse our Book Lists page, and check out the September LibraryReads list. 

*Book descriptions from the publisher.

Book Review: Take, Burn or Destroy

The year is 1794, the height of the French Revolution, and British navy commander Charles Hayden has been given two conflicting assignments: to catch a French ship hiding in the fog of the English Channel, and to meet a spy who has crucial information for the English. Hayden is torn by his own troubles: an estranged fiancee and a pair of scheming women who have bilked him out of his fortune. In his worried state of mind, he makes a error of judgment - and finds himself surrounded in a dense fog by six French warships.

Take, Burn or Destroy is the third in a series of naval adventures featuring Charles Hayden, a commander whose background - an English father and a French mother - gives him a unique perspective on this tumultuous era in history. The novel is a stand-alone volume, and enough background is given that a reader can easily pick up the series here, but to start at the beginning, check out Under Enemy Colors, which was reviewed at this post.  - Michelle (Sunset)