Good Reads & Views

A World of Curiosities by Louise Penny
Fiction

What it’s about: In the village of Three Pines a bricked up-room is discovered that contains a copy of a 17th century painting, The Paston Treasure, but with some modern additions. At the same time, Chief Inspector Gamache revisits his first case with this second-in-command and now son-in-law, Jean Guy Beauvoir, and travels even further back in time to a mass slaying at Montreal's École Polytechnique, when Gamache was just starting out in the police force.

Reviewers say: Kirkus calls this “one of Penny's best. Penny will have you turning the pages as fast as you can to see how she'll manage to tie everything together”; “blends nuanced characterization with nail-biting suspense” (Publishers Weekly).

Here's a taste: "Everyone, he knew, had one. A locked room. Either in their home, or their head, or their heart. Where things that should never see the light of day lived, and waited. For their chance to escape."

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The Help by Kathryn Stockett
Fiction

Kathryn Stockett’s debut novel, set in Jackson, MS in the early 1960s, is a great book and highly recommended on audio.  Skeeter Phelan, raised by a black maid, returns from college and reconnects with her childhood girlfriends Elizabeth and Hilly.  She receives a rejection letter from Harper & Roe publishing for a job in New York City and is advised to get more experience and begin writing stories of her own.  While writing the Miss Myrna column for the Jackson Journal Skeeter begins to pay attention to the interaction between her friends and their maids and decides to get the maids to tell their stories which she will submit to Harper & Roe.  The book is funny but gives a lot of insight into the lives of the black maids in the south during a very turbulent time in history. 

Maine by J. Courtney Sullivan
Fiction  

Maine is the story of the Kellehers and the 3 generations of women.  Maine is the place where the family descends every summer to spend time at the cottage built by the family on the property that was won in a barroom bet after World War II.  Maggie, Ann Marie, Kathleen and Alice are four women who while they may have nothing in common, like it or not, are family and the author takes us into their lives, into their secrets and hardships.  This book is wonderfully narrated by Ann Marie Lee.  This is the second book by J. Courtney Sullivan.

Company of Liars by Karen Maitland
Fiction

It is 1348 and the plague is making its rounds in Great Britain amidst an atmosphere of superstition, fear and religious persecution. Nine strangers are brought together by chance, zigzagging the country in a feeble attempt to outrun the “pestilence” in the mistaken belief that it surely affects only those living on the coast who have had contact with the “foreigners” responsible for the scourge. Each member of the group has a story to tell, and each one has a secret and may not be what they appear to be. How did Camelot the peddler come by those horrible scars? What is Zophiel the magician hiding in his wagon? What is the real story with the painter and his pregnant wife?  And who or what is Narigorm, the white-haired child who reads runes? The questions start accumulating. Then one of the motley crew dies, then another, and another and a wolf keeps howling…..

The Swerve: How the World Became Modern by Stephen Greenblatt
Nonfiction

This highly readable and enjoyable 2011 National Book Award winner tells the story of the development of modernity, by way of apostolic secretary Poggio Bracciolini. A humanist who turned avid book collector, Poggio scoured monasteries for ancient Latin texts and, in 1417, discovered De rerum natura, or “On the Nature of Things” by Lucretius, a Roman poet and philosopher who was born in 99 BCE. Lucretius was a follower of Epicurus and his verse seeks the pursuit of happiness as the highest goal in a life void of superstitions and religious dogma and the accompanying threats of punishment in the afterlife. The discovery of this book fueled the Renaissance, inspiring personalities such as Botticelli, Galileo, Darwin, Montaigne, and Shakespeare, among others.

The Woodcutter by Reginald Hill
Fiction

Wolf Hadda has it all: money, success, prestige, a beautiful wife and a daughter he dotes on. Then the police arrive at his doorstep with a search warrant and arrest him. Trying to escape from custody, he ends up in a traffic accident that leaves him badly injured and in a coma. After serving years in jail for pedophilia and financial shenanigans, and having lost his business, his money, and his wife, he convinces the prison psychiatrist that he should be released. Back in his father’s house in Cambria, Wolf plots revenge on the people who put him in jail and destroyed his life. This suspenseful stand-alone psychological thriller - by the author of the Dalziel and Pascoe detective series – might appeal to fans of Minette Walters and PD James.

The Ice House by Minette Walters
Fiction

Three women living together in an old country house provide ample fodder for gossip to the townsfolk, and even more so when a faceless dead body is found in the old ice house on the property. Could it possibly be the cad of a husband of the lady of the manor, who disappeared 10 years prior, as the Chief Inspector thinks? And was it murder or not? And why do all three women seem to be hiding something? Readers who enjoy the literary style of P.D. James and the psychological elements of some Ruth Rendell novels might want to give Minette Walters' books a try.

Out Stealing Horses by Per Petterson
FIC Petterson, Per

This award winning novel, beautifully written, tells the story of retired widower Trond who moves to a lone cabin in rural Norway. There, he ends up confronting  memories of his younger years, especially the summer he spent with his often absent father in 1948. A poignant coming-of-age story coupled with the attempts of an old man to make sense out of his life, this novel may not appeal to those who look for a climactic finish or a lot of action; if you don’t mind a fragmentary approach, however, and enjoy a well-told story, give this one a try.

Behind the Scenes at the Museum by Kate Atkinson
CD Book Atkinson, Kate

Ruby Lennox narrates the story beginning from her day of conception, which makes for an intriguing start to any book.  The book is divided into chapters and footnotes and spans the lives of four generations of women beginning in the early 1950s and going back and forth between World War I, World War II, and Ruby’s life growing up and into adulthood.  Although the story revolves around Ruby and her family, the lives of her mother, maternal grandmother and great-grandmother are woven into the story.  The book is Ruby and pre-Ruby.  It is narrated by Susan Jameson who conveys the humor, wit and charm of the book.