Good Reads & Views

The Affinity Bridge by George Mann
FIC Mann

The clockwork automaton piloting a crashed dirigible has disappeared, a glowing constable is leaving corpses behind him, and a virus is turning its victims into ravening zombies. Queen Victoria is not amused, and investigators Sir Maurice Newbury and Veronica Hobbes are on the case, in a steampunk version of London. It’s their first collaboration, and it may be the last if the Queen’s Fixer can’t keep patching up the damage they suffer along the way. Perfect for any fan of Indiana Jones. The first of a series.

The Age of Wonder by Richard Holmes
509.41 HOL

Once there was no division between the arts and the sciences. Science was considered a deeply romantic endeavor. Poets wrote odes to a new planet, crowds attended balloon launchings, accounts of exploration became best-sellers, and painters depicted experiments. This is a fascinating account of a time when science was in the forefront of the public imagination, and scientists broke new ground wherever they turned their attention.

Hannah Coulter: A Novel by Wendell Berry
FIC Berry, Wendell

The latest of Berry’s novels and stories about the intersecting lives of residents of a fictional rural community in Kentucky called Port William, similar to Berry’s birthplace (Port Royal) and his later home on a farm near the Kentucky River. Nathan Coulter, Berry’s first novel in 1960, focused on Nathan’s youth. Hanna Coulter, written from the perspective of a woman in her 90s, tells of her marriage to Virgil Feltner until his death in World War II and then about her life with Nathan and their extended families. Berry’s concern for the environment, interpersonal relations, the importance of family farming, and dislike of changes produced by corporate agriculture are themes through his poetry in collections such as Country of Marriage, essays such as What Are People For, and other Port William novels such as Jayber Crow, The Memory of Old Jack, and A World Lost.

Relative Danger by Charles Benoit
FIC Benoit, Charles

Nominated for an Edgar Allan Poe Best First Novel for 2004 and Best Mystery by Publisher’s Weekly. Doug Pearce, recently fired from his mundane brewery job, is surprisingly contacted by an old friend of his long deceased uncle. When Edna Bowers offers to pay all expenses to determine who really murdered uncle Russ, Doug is thrown into a world of international intrigue and action filled adventure filled with exotic places and characters. 

Noble Lies by Charles Benoit
FIC Benoit, Charles

Mark Rohr, decorated Desert Storm Marine vet, has spent the last 10 years in slightly shady jobs around the globe. He has just been fired from his bouncer's job in Phuket Thailand when a young American woman offers him five thousand dollars to find her brother thought to have been killed in the tsunami. Mark takes the job though he believes the brother is either dead or doesn’t want to be found. The quest gets complicated very quickly when Mark discovers a local crime lord is also looking for the brother. He finds that no one is who they seem and everyone has their secrets. Full of twists and turns with quite an unpredictable ending. 

The Uncommon Reader: A Novella by Alan Bennett
FIC Bennett, Alan

After an inadvertent encounter with a mobile library caused when her majesty’s corgis wander off, Queen Elizabeth II acquires an obsession with reading that changes her view of the world and causes her to question her sense of duty. With the subtle and dry sense of humor at which only the British so excel, Bennett meditates upon the nature of reading and writing while sharing an amusing glimpse at the quirky characters that inhabit royal life and society. Prolific author Bennett is best known as a writer of plays and films, notably The Madness of King George (award-winning screenplay), The History Boys (record six Tony Award winner) and his work on the influential 1960’s satirical revue Beyond the Fringe. 

Beat the Reaper by Josh Bazell
FIC Bazell, Josh

In his debut medical thriller, Bazell bursts into the genre with his story of Peter Brown, an intern at Manhattan Catholic, the worst hospital in New York. Brown is a former mob hit man who gave evidence and is now in the  witness protection program. One night he runs into a familiar face, a dying mobster who recognizes him from his former life and  wants his life saved or he’ll make sure others know where Peter is. When the mobster dies, Brown’s race for his life and limb begins. In spite of the graphic language and violence and distracting foot notes this is a real page turner. 

High Country by Nevada Barr
FIC Barr, Nevada

The twelfth in a series of Anna Pigeon mysteries set in national parks has undercover park ranger Anna risking her life while posing as a waitress in the historic Ahwahnee Hotel in Yosemite National Park to solve the mysterious disappearances and probable deaths of four seasonal employees. Barr herself worked as a ranger in many of the national parks she uses as settings. The first, Track of the Cat (1993), written in Guadalupe Mountains National Park in Texas, won the Agatha and Anthony awards. Other titles include Ill Wind (1995) set in Mesa Verde National Park, Blind Descent (1998) set in Carlsbad Caverns National Park, and Hard Truth (2005) set in Rocky Mountain National Park. 

Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood by Marjane Satrapi
YA 955.05 Sat

This story of a young girl's life under the Islamic Revolution told in graphic format is a great way to learn some of the history of the Islamic Revolution of 1979. Satrapi is nine when fundamentalist rebels overthrow the Shah. At the age of 14, the Iran-Iraq war forced her parents to send her to Europe for safety. This is a timeless work of great importance for teens and adults.

Story of a Girl by Sara Zarr
YA Fic Zarr, Sara

At age 13, Deanna ‘s father catches her having sex with her older brother's best friend. It takes only a day for the story to spread throughout small town Pacifica. Two years later, Deanna’s father barely talks to her, and the school is still telling their own versions of the mistake Deanna will never live down. Deanna is a simple character, but the author does a great job of honestly portraying the serious and very real complications of Deanna’s teenage life.