Loving Frank by Nancy Horan

We have all heard about the famous architect Frank Lloyd Wright but few of us know much about the women in his life. This novel by first time author Nancy Horan combines fact and fiction to "recreate" the romance of Mamah Borthwick Cheney and Frank Lloyd Wright in the early 20th century. While scholars have relegated Mamah to a footnote in the life of America's most famous architect this novel brings her to life and shows us just how influential she was on his work and life. Loving Frank is a timeless love story with an explosive ending.

The holiday season is here and Christmas is just around the corner. It’s a busy time of year, but we don’t want to give up our reading. The Library has a lot of Christmas stories that are quick reads and very enjoyable. Authors such as Janet Evanovich, Mary Higgins Clark, and others, include their standard characters in stories with a holiday theme or setting. John Grishams’ Skipping Christmas was a successful departure for the “legal suspense” novelist. A favorite story of mine is A Stranger for Christmas by Carol Pearson. In this story, Myrna, a resident in a California nursing home, hopes to restore a friend’s faith in mankind by proving that any one of her children would take in a stranger for the holidays. However, when she calls to ask, they all seem to have a reason why it would not be convenient and Myrna too becomes despondent until a miracle occurs.
Stop in and take a look at what the Library has to offer. Read and relax during this joyous and festive season.

Home to Big Stone Gap

Have you read Home to Big Stone Gap by Adriana Trigiani? This novel is set in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia, but the story of Ave Maria MacChesney and her close knit circle of family and friends could have been set in any small town or big city. Faced with life's problems, such as her husband's declining health, his association with a mining company that threatens the beauty of the nearby mountains, her daughter marriage and move to Italy, etc. makes for a story of love, heartbreak and adjustments to the uncertainties of life. Click on this link to find the book at the library. Hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

Great Hemingway Reads

This year the Great Michigan Read is focusing on Ernest Hemingway's The Nick Adams Stories, Hemingway's semi-autobiographical short stories set in Northern Michigan. Hemingway is considered to be a master of the short story form, and the Nick Adams series of short stories, although among the first works Hemingway ever published, certainly prove this point. So after you've enjoyed some of the best short fiction around (and joined us in our discussion of The Nick Adams Stories on December 13, 2007 at 6:30pm in the lower level of the library, 143 E. Maumee St., Adrian, Michigan), I know you'll be hungry for more of Hemingway's works.

Hemingway was a member of the "Lost Generation", the group of expatriate artists living in Paris in the 1920's (in fact, many of the Nick Adams stories, although set in Northern Michigan, were written while Hemingway was living in Paris). A Moveable Feast is his memoir about this time in his life, and is filled with anecdotes about F. Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald, Gertrude Stein, and other fellow artists--just a fascinating picture of this time in history. Hemingway is also well known for his sense of adventure: read Green Hills of Africa for his descriptions of big game hunting and Death in the Afternoon for the excitement of bullfighting. Combining Hemingway's sense of adventure with his mastery of the novel, turn to The Sun Also Rises for bullfighting and the "Lost Generation" or A Farewell to Arms for ambulance driving and love in World War I.

Have I convinced you to read more of Hemingway yet? Because if I haven't, do I have a movie for you! On November 1st at 7:00pm in the lower level of the library, we will be showing Spencer Tracy in The Old Man and the Sea, the movie based on Hemingway's short novel by the same name. Published in 1952, the same year Hemingway won the Nobel Prize for Literature, The Old Man and the Sea is a novel--and a movie--that is not to be missed.

While The Great Michigan Read wants you to get to know Nick Adams this fall, don't stop there: come to the Adrian Public Library and get involved with a great Hemingway read.

Are you looking for a good book to read? Do you need some suggestions for your "Books to Read" list? Check out the Adrian Public Library website. On our home page, look for the link to "The Bookies", the book club that meets in the library and is open to the public. It has a list of upcoming titles along with a list of all of the books the "Bookies" have read. Or, click on the "Internet Sites" link and scroll down to "Reading Group Guides". Check these sites out for suggestions of books to read.
A new book on the library shelves is "The Complete Idiot's Guide to the Ultimate Reading List". Fiction titles are broken down by genre and it even includes non-fiction titles broken down by subject. The library has many other bibliographies to help you find books of interest to you.

Beggar King and the Secret of Happiness By Joel ben Izzy

"Sit back and let me tell you my tale, of a journey that took me through dark times, yet gave me a gift that I treasure. That gift is this story, which I now pass on to you--a tale of lost horses and found wisdom, of buried treasures and wild strawberries, of the beggar king and the secret of happiness."

The Beggar King and the Secret of Happiness is a true story about a storyteller who loses his voice and believes he has lost everything. Joel's own story took a sharp twist in the summer of 1997, when he was diagnosed with thyroid cancer. Though usually a treatable form of the the disease, in his case there was a strange complication: when he awoke from surgery he discovered that he could no longer speak. So Joel began an adventure as strange as any story Joel had ever told, which was to become the basis for his book.

Do You Re-Read?

Do you like to read books over and over? If you're like me you have a favorite book that when you can't sleep in the middle in the night you pull it out and it makes you feel all better. Or how about those books you've either been forced to or chosen to read several times over the course of your life? For example, I must have read To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee at least four times: first in high school, then college, then when both my kids had to read it their freshman year in high school. The thing with that book is that every time I've read it I've gotten something different from it: in high school it was the mere injustice of the situation, in college it was being a person who will stand up to injustice, with my first child it was how to live as a person of integrity in all aspects of your life and the last time around it was how to be a parent (or rather, how to raise a child--face it, those children were raised). But I enjoyed it and it spoke to my life no matter what my age. On the other hand, I tried to re-read The Catcher in the Rye by J. D. Salinger when my daughter was reading it for Junior English. I had to stop--I just don't think it's a book that goes beyond adolescence. While my daughter and her classmates were relating to Holden (as I remember doing at their age), I just couldn't relate. So how about it--are there books you read over and over and get something from each time? Or can you think of some that you loved as a teenager but are just not as enjoyable when you read them as an adult? What's your favorite comfort book for those middle of the night episodes when you need something friendly to re-read? Let's hear about all the re-reads in your life!

Find To Kill a Mockingbird at Adrian Public Library
Find Catcher in the Rye at Adrian Public Library

Did you read the Harry Potter series?

A couple of weeks ago the question was posted "Who was your Harry Potter"? We wanted to know what series books you read while you were growing up. Now I'm curious as to what adults think of the Harry Potter books. I have read them all and I thought they were very imaginative! I loved the fantasy of flying on broomsticks and even playing a "sport" while riding one. The whole world of Hogwarts, witches and wizards, invisibility cloaks and the marauders map drew me in from the very beginning. I read that Universal Studios is planning a "Wizards World" (or something like that) in Florida. Sounds like fun to me.

The Baby Name Bible: 50,000+ Baby Names by Pamela Redmond Satran & Linda Rosenkrantz

Expecting a bundle of joy at your house? Of course you'll want to find the perfect name to fit your new arrival and The Baby Name Bible is just the book for you. This book not only lists names, but the authors will give you insight and advice on every name and tell you what's best, what's hot, and what's not. For example, in their entry for the name "Barbara", the authors opine: "Can the lively young Barbara Bush erase or replace her grandmother's white-haired image? We doubt it." On the other hand, they love the name Oliver: "Everybody likes the energetic, good-natured British-accented Oliver; it's stylish but not nearly as trendy as twin-sister Olivia, with a meaning symbolizing peace and fruitfulness." Also including thousands of creative and ethnic choices, this book will give you plenty of names you may never have even considered. Plus, it's just plain fun to read.

Find The Baby Name Bible at Adrian Public Library.

The Organized Student by Donna Goldberg with Jennifer Zwiebel

School is starting in the next few weeks and everyone, parents and students alike, wants a fresh start. With that in mind, The Organized Student: Teaching Children the Skills for Success in School and Beyond is just what the teacher ordered. Educational consultant Donna Goldberg, founder of the Organized Student, takes the reader through the organizational process step by step, from assessments of the student's learning style to a four-step plan for organizing a backpack and finally providing the keys to graduate from telling time to managing time. A must-read for anyone who wants to start the school year on the right foot.

Find The Organized Student at the Adrian Public Library

Who was your Harry Potter?

Back on July 19th, the New York Times posted the following questions on their blog: "Who was your Harry Potter?" and "What were your favorite books when you were a kid?"
For me, I had to read all of the Nancy Drew books. There was also a non-fiction series called "We were there" and I know I read a lot of those. The biography series published by Dodd Mead kept me reading for quite some time too.
What were your favorite authors or series when you were growing up?

Murder on the Orient Express by Agatha Christie

"Renowned as Agatha Christie's most famous mystery, Murder on the Orient Express was inspired by two real-life crimes and by the author's own experience of being marooned on the fabled luxury train during Christmas of 1933"--Publisher

Starring the brillant Belgian inspector Hercule Poirot, the plot twists and turns will keep you entertained in this novel about the murder of a wealthy American on the Orient Express. Made into several movie versions throughout the years, the Adrian Public Library will be showing the 1974 version starring Albert Finney as Inspector Poirot on August 22nd at 2:00pm as part of our Wednesday Movie Matinee series. Read the original and then join us for the movie!

Find Murder on the Orient Express at the Adrian Public Library

Water for elephants by Sara Gruen

Jacob Jankowski is over 90 years old and living in a nursing home. Excitement is mounting as his fellow residents watch a circus setting up across the street. Jacob begins reminiscing about his life in the circus while in his early twenties. The story goes back and forth between his present day life in the nursing home and his time with the circus during the Great Depression. It is a wonderful true-to-life novel that immerses the reader in the nomadic life of a circus. The treatment of the circus animals and some of the circus workers is a little disconcerting, but overall the book was always interesting and I hated to put it down.
[This title was the July selection of the Bookies, the book club that meets at the Adrian Public Library on the second Thursday of each month. New members always welcome.]

Teacher Man by Frank McCourt

Frank McCourt's follow-up to his Pulitzer Prize winning Angela's Ashes and his later 'Tis starts as a lyrical tribute to his 30 year career teaching in public high schools in New York and ends as a tribute to teachers everywhere. We follow McCourt's career highs and lows as he details his struggles to hit his stride as a teacher and ultimately an author. As with any good teacher, we have a lesson to learn from McCourt: "Doggedness," he says, is "not as glamorous as ambition or talent or intellect or charm, but still the one thing that got me throught the days and nights." Funny, honest and insightful, we can almost hear his Irish lilt.

Find Teacher Man at the Adrian Public Library.

Patriotic Fire: Andrew Jackson and Jean Laffite at the Battle of New Orleans by Winston Groom

The front flyleaf of this book describes it as "a fast-paced, enthralling retelling of one of the greatest battles fought on the North American continent, and of the two men who--against all expectations and odds--joined forces to repel the British invasion of New Orleans in December 1814." Reading more like an adventure story than a history book, Winston Groom (author of Forrest Gump) brings an exciting battle in US history, as well as the personalities of Andrew Jackson and Jean Lafitte, to life.

Find Patriotic Fire: Andrew Jackson and Jean Laffite at the Battle of New Orleans at the Adrian Public Library

It's All Too Much by Peter Walsh

Peter Walsh, host of TLC's popular show Clean Sweep takes you through the steps to putting your house and your life back in order. Part psychologist, part organizational guru, Walsh not only shows you how to tackle the clutter in your house, but how to tackle the underlying causes that keep you in clutter.

Find It's All Too Much at the Adrian Public Library.

The Book of Lost Things by John Connolly

"New York Times bestselling author John Connolly's unique imagination takes readers through the end of innocence into adulthood and beyond in this dark and triumphantly creative novel of grief and loss, loyalty and love, and the redemptive power of stories"--Publisher.

Taking refuge in fairy tales after the loss of his mother, twelve-year-old David finds himself violently propelled into an imaginary land in which the boundaries of fantasy and reality are disturbingly melded. An imaginative fantasy, this book was number one on the American Library Association's list of ten best adult books that appeal to teen audiences.

Find The Book of Lost Things at Adrian Public Library.

The Lost Art of Keeping Secrets by Eva Rice

It's 1950's London and everything is about to change for Penelope; well, let's hear her tell it herself:

It all started on a perfectly ordinary afternoon in November. Charlotte invited me home to tea with Aunt Clare and Harry, and from that moment on, everything changed. At first I don't think I knew it--after all, when I went to bed that night I was still living with my mother and brother in perpetual chaos in a crumbling estate we couldn't afford to keep, Magna--but the next day, I began to realize that for the first time ever, I had my own life. (from the book jacket for The Lost Art of Keeping Secrets by Eva Rice)

From the very beginning of The Lost Art of Keeping Secrets, Eva Rice pulls you into the lives of three upper class teenagers in postwar London and this charming book will keep you entertained as you are swept along with their parties, friendships, intrigues, crushes on pop stars, lost loves, found loves--in short, as they grow up and find their own way. Don't be put off by the teenaged characters; you'll love it as an adult for it's ability to convey a time and place as well as the way it will take you back to your own early twenties. Uneven in spots, the characters are nevertheless so well drawn that you will be sorry to leave them at book's end. It's no mistake that Eva Rice is the daughter of lyricist Tim Rice (The Lion King): she's obviously inherited the family gene for entertaining.

Find The Lost Art of Keeping Secrets at the Adrian Public Library.

Summer at Tiffany by Marjorie Hart

Summer reading is at its best in Marjorie Hart's memoir Summer at Tiffany. It is the summer of 1945 and Marjorie Jacobson and Marty Garrett arrive in the middle of New York City straight from the heartland--the heartland defined as the Kappa House at the University of Iowa, that is. The two twenty-somethings find jobs as the first female pages at the famous Tiffany & Co., share a studio apartment, pinch pennies in order to eat at the Automat (vowing not to write home for money), date handsome servicemen and in short, have the summer of their lives. Interwoven with her personal memories Marjorie gives us a wonderful portrait of New York City in the summer of 1945, including a first-hand description of celebrating VJ Day in Times Square, as well as a real sense of what it was like to be young and full of opportunity at the end of World War II. Marjorie went on to become the chairman of the Fine Arts Department at the University of San Diego and a professional cellist. Now eighty-three, she wrote this memoir as a project later in life, and it was worth the wait. A delightful, easy read, Summer at Tiffany is worth checking out in any season.

Find Summer at Tiffany at the Adrian Public Library.

Looking for a good mystery to read? Check out

Blue Smoke by Nora Roberts
Reena Hale, a Baltimore arson investigator, has been fascinated by fire and the world of firefighting since the destruction of her family’s pizzeria as a child. While investigating a series of seemingly unrelated crimes she realizes that someone has been pursuing her through the years. Random crimes that impacted her family and friends take on a new meaning as this story builds towards the searing climax. Now she is the target of an arsonist who taunts her with threatening phone calls and escalating crimes. While Reena struggles to uncover the killer she falls for local contractor Bo Goodnight. His need to protect Reena conflicts with her need for independence and goal of proving herself equal to her peers. Intertwined is Reena’s relationship with her close but complex Italian family and the role they play supporting her relationship and career.

You can find it in the library catalog by clicking on this link.