Book Lovers

Helsinki Blood
James Thompson

Kari Vaara is in pain, both physically and emotionally.  HIs body has been broken and his wife has left him after the traumatic events of his last case.  Now someone is trying to kill him.  Vaara is on a mission to get his wife back and stop an international immigrant/prostitution ring while keeping himself and his cohorts alive.

May 8, 2013
Susan
David Wong
This Book Is Full of Spiders: Seriously, Dude, Don't Touch It
David Wong

Dave and John are back in this sequel to the popular sci-fi/horror/comedy John Dies at the End. Dave wakes in the middle of the night to find a spider monster gnawing on his leg, and everything spirals out of control from there. Soon enough, the citizens of Undisclosed (Dave included) are quarantined thanks to a deadly virus that turns its victims into monstrous abominations.  John, Amy, and Molly the dog must devise a plan to free Dave and rescue the remaining citizens of Undisclosed before the army obliterates the city. This sequel is just as fun as the original.

Apr 11, 2013
Anonymous
The Open Door: 100 Poems 100 Years of Poetry Magazine
Don Share, Christian Wiman, editors

To celebrate the 100th anniversary of America's most popular poetry journal, current Poetry magazine editors Don Share and Christian Wiman put together 100 of the "best" poems to grace their esteemed journal's pages. The poetry here is certainly of the Modernist variety (and the editors make no bones about that in their introduction) and contains some of the more anthologized poetry of the last 100 years, including Ezra Pound's "In a Station at the Metro", T.S. Eliot's "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock", Robert Creeley's "For Love", and James Wright's "The Blessing". But they also include poems that are more of the lost classics by past master variety, like Theodore Roethke's "Florist Root Cellar," Wallace Stevens "Tea at the Palaz of Hoon", and Sylvia Plath's "Fever 103". Also included is a fair amount of contemporary works, including gems by Laura Kasischke, Lucille Clifton, and Craig Arnold. This journal has seen all of the greats of modernist poetry over the last 100 years and, if you're a fan or a casual observer, this collection is a great way to re-engage with the greats and introduce yourself to some new practitioners. Note: these poems can also be found at the Poetry Foundation's great website, www.poetryfoundation.org (which also has a wonderful blog and many great articles on past and contemporary poets).

Apr 9, 2013
Anonymous
Silenced
Kristina Ohlsson

The police at the Stockholm CID special cases unit have enough going on in their own personal lives when the case of an apparent murder-suicide of a clergyman/activist and his wife is assigned to them.  Added to this is the hit and run killing of an unidentified man.  As the detectives investigate the killings they're not convinced of the suicide angle.  Could it be part of a refugee smuggling operation gone wrong? 

Apr 5, 2013
Susan
Women of the Silk
Gail Tsukiyama

Women of the Silk spans 20 years in the life of Pei, a Chinese girl who is abandoned by her father at the age of 8 to live with “Aunt” Yee and work in a silk factory during the first decades of the 20th century. As she learns the art of spinning silk Pei develops strong friendships with the other girls and young women who live and work with her. Tsukiyama’s writing is as delicate as the silk that hold the girls together as she weaves in the China during the time of the Japanese invasion. Many ceremonies and customs are detailed along with vivid descriptions of life in the villages and cities of China at this time.

 

Mar 26, 2013
Anonymous
The Terra_Cotta Dog
Andrea Camilleri

As protagonists go, you’d be hard pressed to find one more disagreeable, brooding, and on the mark than Andrea Camilleri’s, Inspector Salvo Montalbano. Set in Sicily, Inspector Montalbano unravels an odd supermarket heist with the goods left abandoned in plain sight and dying words that lead him to an illegal arms cache in a mountain cave. But what he finds there leaves him scratching his head, the bodies of two very young lovers dead since World War II, and carefully arranged with coins, a water jug, and a faithful terra-cotta dog.  What Montalbano lacks in warmth and charm can only be topped by his dry humor and the interesting characters that surround him.  This is the second in the Montalbano series.

Mar 26, 2013
Anonymous
The Fifty Year Sword
Mark Z. Danielewski

A jilted Chintana attends a party where she and five orphans find themselves at the mercy of a mysterious storyteller. The unnamed storyteller brings with him a menacing black box that contains a uniquely dangerous weapon. Mark Z. Danielewski (House of Leaves) is known for his unusual methods of storytelling. In The Fifty Year Sword, he "stitches" together snippets of five different accounts of what happened to make a complete story.

Mar 18, 2013
Anonymous
The Storyteller
Jodi Picoult

Baker Sage Singer meets Josef Weber at the grief therapy sessions they both attend.  Josef, a former Nazi officer, asks for her help which she is first reluctant to do.  The story intersperses the stories of Sage, Josef, and Minka, Sage's grandmother, a Holocaust survivor.

Mar 16, 2013
Susan
The Last Runaway
Tracy Chevalier

Honor Bright decides to emigrate to the United States with her sister Grace when she is jilted by her intended.  Unfortunately, Grace dies shortly after they arrive.  Honor continues on her journey meeting a soon-to-be-faithful friend.  Her Quaker faith will sustain but also butt up against the runaway slave issue.

Mar 11, 2013
Susan
Never Coming Back
Hans Koppel

How long does someone plan their revenge and what will the punishment be?  Ylva Zetterberg was involved in a long-ago incident but someone hasn't forgotten her participation.  When Ylva is abducted, her family has no idea what has happened and why.  Would she voluntarily leave her husband and more importantly, her eight-year old daughter?

Mar 9, 2013
Susan

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