Long Branch Public Library Book Drops

Little Bird of Heaven by Joyce Carol Oates

2011-02-02T11:35:00.000-08:00

While this novel centers around a mystery, it would not be classified AS a "mystery". Does that sound confusing as a tag-line? Well fasten your seatbelts...Ms. Oates is about to take you on a wild ride which includes familial love and dissent, murder, unconditional love, hatred, brutality and tenderness so intense as to leave you feeling you not only knew the characters in this amazingly gritty book but that you've actually spent time amongst them.

When a murder occurs in fairly small-town Sparta, two families are ripped apart, one by the loss of their mother and (estranged) wife and the other by the accusations hurled at their husband and father, who had been having an affair with the victim before her violent and ugly death. The novel is narrated by the daughter of the accused and the son of the victim, and this switching off of voices is very effective in illustrating the devastation felt by both families as a result of this crime.

"Little Bird Of Heaven" deals with dreams and having to let go of them at some point. It provides such an honest-feeling study of humans that it may very well have been a sociological study. The characters stay true throughout and in this consistency lies the brilliance of Ms. Oates' writing. Their unwavering flaws and gifts create a world in which, it seems, only the strong survive. There are segments of this book which seem endless, it must be asked if Ms. Oates does this intentionally in the quest for "realism" or if she merely became hung-up on certain aspects of her own tale. This, while tedious to some readers, lends a "real time" component to the story.

Per usual, Oates' characters are extremely well fleshed out and detailed. Her gift of capturing emotion is uncanny, from the hurt iciness of the wronged wife to the sad booziness of the husband who hurt her. But what are we to take away from this story? Cruelty is a human trait yet not all humans are cruel...or so we hope.
Tara Sullivan

2010-10-28T15:43:00.000-07:00

Dear Thriller Reader:

"Circumference of Darkness" by Jack Henderson is a "must read".

Here is what the author wrote about this debut thriller:

"After the initial idea for the book presented itself, I put in nearly a year of research and fact-finding before the first chapter was written. I have a wall full of reference books, three walls actually, but I don’t believe I could have written this story at all without the unbelievably deep resources of the Internet and its community. Everything is out there somewhere, nearly everyone can be found and reached with a question, and it only takes some ingenuity and diligence to follow the trail and find it all. The facts in the book are facts, the conjecture is based on facts, and I did my best to ensure, even if an event was pure fiction, that it could have happened just as the story says it did."

Setting aside the brilliantly scripted near-Armageddon story line and vast scope of technology employed in the plot, what I found most engaging about the book were his unusual misfit heroes (and heroine) and his unfailing sharp witted dialog sprinkled with irony, techno-geek speak and apropos classic references. Simply put the book is not only exciting but entertaining and informative in ways you don't get in the average "best seller" Clancy style offering.

Review by Jim Bruck

2010-10-05T11:45:00.000-07:00

Just a little pre-Thanksgiving treat...please check out "Don't Let Auntie Mabel Bless the Table" by the divine children's author/illustrator Vanessa Brantley Newton. Every family has one...the beloved "Mad Auntie" (or, of course, uncle, cousin, brother, sister, parent...) who can take over and make a family get together frustratingly, lovingly memorable. In this case, a large table filled with friends and family can not wait to dig in to the delicious meal laid out in front of them. UNTIL...Auntie Mabel begins her blessing! Which goes on so long even the priest in attendance begins playing with his food. A charmingly illustrated book full of richly different characters, this one is the perfect Thanksgiving dish to share with all...young and old alike! Enjoy!
(And check out Vanessa's other fantastic books..."Presenting...Tallulah" with Tori Spelling, "Drum City" and "Let Freedom Sing". Her illustrations for the "Ruby and the Booker Boys" series bring that Sassy Ruby right to life!)

Shared by: Tara Burke Sullivan

Reference Books on the Lower Level of LBPL

2010-09-15T14:43:00.000-07:00

----Call Number REF 394.26 CHA 2010

Chase's Calendar of Events

The Long Branch Free Public Library receives the Chase's Calendar of Events each autumn. The new edition of the book is subtitled, "Ultimate Go-To Guide for Special Days, Weeks, and Months." You might turn to a certain date or look under the days of the month. Looking at the beginning of any month, you will find not only a list of groups that have claims on that month to honor a celebration but events from history that occurred that month are accented as well.
Turning to a particular date, you will find birthdays of famous people and celebrations for that date. Here are some examples that might be of interest. September is Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder Month, a time to educate people about what this disease brings. Attorney and author Alan Dershowitz's birthday is September 3rd. From Sept. 3rd to 6th, the Annual Woodstock Music Festival is held in Woodstock, CT . On September 4th, Animals Day is celebrated on the island of Curacao in the Caribbean and awards are given out. The First Labor Day was held 1882 in New York City. It was arranged by the Central Labor Union to honor the workers of the world. These are a small sample of the events available within this reference book.
People always wonder, "where do you get ideas for displays?" Chase's Calendar of Events" enables us to time some things very well. It gives us good coverage of events that you might expect to come up in the news.

What You Wish Your Older Brother Had Told You about Men!

2010-08-23T10:55:00.000-07:00

Act Like a Lady, Think Like a Man: What Men Really Think about Love, Relationships, Intimacy, and Commitment was written by Steve Harvey, of "the Kings of Comedy" fame. However, although it is sometimes humorous, it has a serious purpose. It is for all women who want to better understand men -- but especially for those of us who always wished we had an older brother to explain guys to us. A quick read but always informative, Act Like a Lady covers the three things guys need from women, what qualities cause a man to decide that a particular woman is a "keeper," the importance of a woman's having standards and how best to communicate them to the man she is dating, and when to introduce your man to the kids. Most importantly, Harvey advises women on how to tell when to walk away from a relationship. The only caveat is that readers who are not familiar with current slang may need a slang dictionary (or the internet).

Two of the Deadliest

2010-07-31T13:09:00.000-07:00

Those would be Lust and Greed, two of the deadliest of the seven deadly sins. Murder is another, of which there is also a large helping in this short story compilation, edited by author Elizabeth George. Ms. George is best known for her long-running Inspector Lynley series, but in this book she has compiled stories written by "outstanding women of mystery" and some newbies, too. Whether committed in the heat of passion, or with coldblooded calculation, these sinners commit the oldest of sins in the newest of ways.

This is a fun, quick summer read, as these stories are the perfect length for poolside or coffee break reading. Some stories are whodunits and some tell tales of passion gone wrong, but each one is different from the next, twisting and turning the wages of sin from fresh perspectives. "The Offer" by Patricia Smiley tells the tale of lonely woman and a dream job offer gone horribly wrong. "Can You Hear Me Now?" neatly avenges that rude airplane cellphone abuser who doesn't care who hears his personal business, and Dana Stabenow's "Gold Fever" is a tale of Alaskan gold with a double-indemnity twist. George contributes her own story of a middle-aged woman's crisis of infatuation doomed by a rare stamp in "Lusting for Jenny, Inverted."

Ms. George has generously allotted story space to writers who are largely unknown or who have never been published. These are some of the best or most interesting stories. I particularly liked "Anything Helps", one of the few stories with a happy ending. In this book, if not in life, those characters consumed by lust, greed and murder usually get their just deserts. Sometimes, but not always, the wages of sin are death: death of love, life or happiness.

After finishing these enjoyable stories, I find myself agreeing with Oscar Wilde when he says "the only sin is stupidity."

Submitted by Lisa Kelly

EVERY LAST ONE

2010-06-17T08:40:00.000-07:00

"a butterfly beating its wings in Mexico could result in a breeze in our back yard"

...that is how Mary Beth Latham,'s nearly perfect daughter Ruby explains the theory of chaos to her mother —and that is also a good way of explaining Anna Quindlen’s new novel EVERY LAST ONE.
Her book reads like two different stories. In the first half of the book, Mary Beth, paints the portrait of a very normal family life. Mary Beth is a middle-aged woman who is very busy managing the dramas in her own backyard.

Life is good, but it is also very routine. It is only Quindlen's mastery of words that keeps you reading through the tedious lives of Mary Beth and her children for the first half of the book. That, and a menacing feeling that something life-changing is going to happen.

So in the second half of the book, when we finally get to the life-changing event, it doesn’t disappoint. It hits like a bombshell.
The story line becomes how one faces the challenges of life's unexpected events.

In reading the book, I wonder if anyone else liked Mary Beth better before or after her tragedy?
I thought that she became a much more substantial person; much less concerned with trivial matters; much more concerned with her character.

Did you think that the breathtaking event that changes the entire story was necessary?
How would you handle it if life struck such a blow?

Welcome to Book Drops

2010-05-25T10:49:00.000-07:00

The new Long Branch Free Public Library Readers Advisory Blog...an overly wordy way of saying "here are some books which have been read and evaluated by our library staff." As with any group of avid readers, we have a wide range of likes and dislikes. Our connecting thread is our absolute love of literature, of reading, of the very books themselves. You are, by virtue of being able to read our opinions, spared of the lively (heated) exchanges we sometimes engage in with each other. Though more often, our discussions are positive, affirming and mind broadening. By having everyone share their preferred genre on this blog, we hope to provide our readers with inspiration to read not only what they typically gravitate toward but to branch out and experience other genres as well. Perhaps you'll discover a new author, or decide a book which may not have caught your eye initially is worthy of reading.

Check in with us often, share your thoughts and, most of all, enjoy the love of literature we share. Let the reading begin...

2010-05-20T10:31:00.000-07:00

Louise Erdrich's "Shadow Tag" portrays the saga of a family fraught with anger, history, trust issues and a love which is poisonous. It will make you wonder if Erdrich is allowing art to imitate life as there are more than a few allegories to her marriage to author Michael Dorris...who committed suicide after allegations of child abuse were levied against him.

In "Shadow Tag", the matriarch of the family, Irene America, has become an iconic figure in the art world due to being the sole model for her husband, troubled, temperamental artist Gil. They've built a life together and weather the ups and downs of an artists life with varying degrees of success. Their love, as the song goes "is the choking kind". They are parents to three children and the effects this marriage has on these children is both troubling and fascinating.

When Gil reads Irene's diary and she becomes aware of his intrusion on her private thoughts and mullings, she decides to begin keeping a dummy diary for him to read instead. The events which unfurl as a result of this betrayal are less than healthy and much less than happy. To reveal any more would require a plot spoiler, and lessen the satisfaction of experiencing this tale of familial and marital dissent.

What is striking about Erdrich's book is, despite all the chaos in the household there is also a sort of simpatico life the couple leads. They cook together, discuss art, history and life in high functioning discourse. They are also burdened with a nearly animalistic, uncontrollable attraction to each other.

"Shadow Tag" left me feeling as though I had spent time with the America family...and most relieved when that visit was over! It was haunting and powerful yet in her spare style Erdrich's writing is far from cumbersome. If you're looking to ponder a book long past the last page, this would fit the bill. Light summer fare it is not, but sometimes a darker, heavier read is a nice change of pace from the typical beach novel.