Good Reads & Views

Something in the Air: American Passion and Defiance in the 1968 Mexico City Olympics by Richard Hoffer
Nonfiction

The year 1968 was met with a large amount of social and political difficulties in the United States.  Most of these difficulties surfaced before the start of the 1968 Olympic Games that were to be held in Mexico City.  This book takes a look at a number of different athletes that performed in those games.  It talks of their preparation for the games, which were going to be held in a city with a very high altitude, of which most of the American athletes were not accustomed to.  The book chronicles the athletes’ arrival at the Olympic Village, the events they competed in, the awards ceremonies they were a part of, the trip home, and life after the Olympic Games for some of the athletes.  In addition to the games, there was also the possibility of a boycott by most of the American athletes. Some protests were carried out, and others never made it that far out of fear of getting in trouble or having their medals taken away. 

Princess In Training by Meg Cabot
Fiction

Princess Mia already knows that her sophomore year of high school will not be the same as her freshman year, and school hasn’t even started yet.  In the first place there are a few changes that Mia has to get used to.  One change is her boyfriend, Michael, now attends college and won’t be at school every day.  Another change is her friend Boris, who ended last school year, looking a little odd and with a broken heart over her best friend and his girlfriend Lilly.  This year Boris has undergone some major changes including a new girlfriend.  Another change is the dreaded Geometry class.  Mia barely made it through Algebra last year, how is she ever going to pass Geometry?  Also, Lilly, has nominated Mia to be the new student council President where she must run against her rival, Lana. Will Princess Mia be able to handle the pressure and change that comes with being a Princess and passing the 10^th grade?

The Gallows Bird by Camilla Lackberg
Fiction

When a woman is killed in a car accident and smells of alcohol, Fjällbacka (Sweden) detective Patrik Hedstrom assumes that it is a case of drunken driving. But when friends insist that the woman never drank and the autopsy shows signs of bruising around her mouth it is clear that it was murder. At the same time a reality TV show is being filmed in the city and one of the participants is found murdered. Patrik finds evidence that the two homicides are linked and that there is a pattern of similar deaths over a period of time in different parts of the country suggesting that there is a serial killer on the loose. Interesting, suspenseful and unpredictable.

 

 

A Bad Day for Scandal by Sophie Littlefield
Fiction

Stella Hardesty’s reputation for renegade justice is becoming too well known around her hometown of Prosper, Missouri and she is faced with a dilemma when a former resident comes back into town with a body in the trunk of her car and contacts Stella to take care of the disposal. Though Stella desperately needs the money, she refuses. But then the woman threatens blackmail, and before Stella can make a decision she ends up a suspect when the woman and her brother go missing.  Stella and her assistant Chrissy have to dig deep into the woman’s past all while keeping everything secret from the sheriff who does his best to keep Stella out of trouble in spite of her activities. A light and feisty adventure.

Christy by Catherine Marshall
Fiction

In this good, old-fashioned, coming-of-age novel, Christy Huddleston is a 19-year-old teacher who is called to teach in a small mission school in Appalachia in 1912. After having lived a sheltered existence, the harsh living conditions of her students’ families at first appalls her, but gradually she comes to terms with the difficulties they face and is able to recognize the beauty that coexists with the hardships. Over the course of the novel, Christy weathers a crisis of faith, discovers her place in the life of the community, and falls in love.

Unfamiliar Fishes by Sarah Vowell, Read by the author, with Fred Armisen, Bill Hader, John Hodgeman, Catherine Keener, Edward Norton, Keanu Reeves, Paul Rudd, Maya Rudolph, and John Slattery
CD Audiobook 996.9 VOW

Sarah Vowell brings her unique deadpan delivery to her reading of her latest well-researched but also very personal book. She focuses on the history of Hawaii, particularly the arrival of New England missionaries in the 1820s until its annexation in 1898 and statehood in 1959. Many intriguing stories are brought to life: a Hawaiian princess conflicted about marrying her brother (as with their European counterparts, Hawaiian royalty traditionally married their close relatives); the founding of elite Punahou School (President Obama's alma mater); the colorful Walter Murray Gibson, who founded a Mormon colony (he was later excommunicated for misappropriation of funds) and then got involved in Hawaiian government after befriending the King. Although Vowell is definitely the best person to narrate her own work, her voice borders on monotone. It has been wisely broken up by having extended quotations narrated by an all-star cast, including Academy Award-nominee Edward Norton cast as President Grover Cleveland, Mad Men's John Slattery portraying author Ernest Hemingway, and Keanu Reeves as David Malo, one of the early native converts to Christianity and an author of Hawaiian history.

Unfamiliar Fishes by Sarah Vowell
996.9 VOW

The author’s latest historical tour traces the origins of American imperialism from the arrival of the first Western missionaries to Hawaii in the 1820s (just after the death of Kamehameha I, who had unified or conquered all the islands, depending on one’s point of view) until the "orgy of imperialism" in 1898, when America annexed Hawaii and invaded Cuba, Puerto Rico, the Philippines and Guam. With her usual dry wit and anecdotal style, Vowell details the lives of the New Englanders sent to save the native’s souls, – there were an estimated 300,000 native Hawaiians when Captain Cook arrived in 1778, decreasing by 100 years later to about 40,000 due to disease and starvation – their conflicts with the more colorful sailors and whalers who came ashore, and follows their descendants who ran the sugar plantations and politically maneuvered the “Republic” and eventually annexation.

Before the Frost by Henning Mankell
FIC Mankell

In his usual gripping style, Mankell’s 10th Wallander mystery features, Linda, Inspector Kurt Wallander’s daughter, just graduated from the Police Academy and is waiting to start work. When her close friend suddenly vanishes, Linda looks for answers, uncovers a possible link with a murder that her father is investigating and they unexpectedly find themselves working together in a hunt for a dangerous religious fanatic and murderer. A compelling story with lots of tension.

Death in the Truffle Wood by Pierre Magnan
FIC Magnan

When Commissaire Laviolette comes incognito to a small village in Provence to search for five missing hippies, he’s not expecting to discover that some of the most important clues involve the behavior of the enormous truffle-hunting pig Rosaline. But truffles are the village’s major industry, followed closely by love affairs, and Laviolette is going to have to find out why the combination is so deadly before more people disappear. A charming, humorous mystery, the first of a series.

In Sheep's Clothing by Rett MacPherson
FIC MacPherson

In this 7th Torie O'Shea mystery, the genealogist travels to Minnesota to visit her aunt and finds herself embroiled in a deadly mystery. Her aunt has discovered a 150 year old diary in the attic of her farm house and is curious about the author. Torie becomes obsessed with the story and its abrupt ending and is determined to sort out past misdeeds that have clear connection to the present.