Book Lovers

Old Man's War
Old Man's War
John Scalzi

Even if you don’t normally read science fiction, you will enjoy this book. John Perry is about to turn seventy-five and he has two choices ahead of him: to either quietly live out the rest of his life and die like everyone else or join the mysterious Colonial Defense Forces and get launched into space with his youth restored and no chance of ever returning to earth again. John chooses the later and we follow him on his adventure into space. He is joined by other 75 year old's from all over the world who have made the same choice and we watch as they learn to adapt to their new battle-ready bodies and find out just who the Colonial Forces are battling.

Nov 28, 2010
Kristy
The Road
Cormac McCarthy

 It follows a father and son through a world destroyed by an undefined cataclysm, a nuclear winter full of starvation and violence.  As they move toward the ocean and the hope a somewhat better life they scavenge for food and try to remain unseen and therefore safe.  It is not the story of an apocalypse so much as it is the story of how we retain hope and humanity once the world as we know it has ended.

The Road received the 2006 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction and was recently made into a film starring Viggo Mortenson and Kodi Smit-McPhee (also available at the library). 

Nov 23, 2010
Anonymous
The Great Typo Hunt
Jeff Deck and Benjamin Herson

After attending his college reunion, Jeff Deck decides it's his turn to do some good in the world.  But what to do?  An editor by trade, he is astonished by the number of typos he sees all around.  He creates the Typo Eradication Advancement League (TEAL) with the help of his friends and embarks on a transcontinental journey to find and correct typos and educate those who have made the mistakes, if possible.  What he does find is an abundance of missplaced apostrophes and misspellings as well as a crash course in human behavior, customer service, self-awareness, education, friendship, and even the federal government.

An entertaining journey across the United States which will make you look a little closer at how messages are conveyed.

Nov 22, 2010
Susan
The Other Wes Moore
Wes Moore

The author Wes Moore shares the same name as a convicted armed robber but the similarities don’t stop there. Both Wes’s grew up at nearly the same time on the mean streets of Baltimore where the allure of easy money selling drugs was strong. Both struggled in school with teachers who didn’t expect much out of them and a mother who expected more. Both had fathers who were nonexistent in their lives. The author, Wes Moore, however goes onto graduating high school, college, becoming a prestigious Rhodes Scholar, and attending Oxford University for his master’s degree.  This book makes a plea for humanity towards kids growing up in urban centers where resources and positive role models are lacking. Read it and feel inspired to help! (I listened to the book on CD- read by the author- which is a great way to hear the confidence and clarity with which the author leads his life)

Nov 20, 2010
Anonymous
Peter and Max: A Fables Novel
Bill Willingham

In Peter and Max, author Bill Willingham adds to the rich world he has created in his Fables comic series with a dark tale of jealousy, goodness, witches and flutes.  While the novel's titular brothers are Peter Piper and the Pied Piper of the Brothers Grimm fairy tales, Willingham weaves a rich tale that builds on a background of popular stories and stands on its own as a fine fantasy novel.  Best of all is that it requires no previous knowledge of the Fables comics for full enjoyment.

Nov 17, 2010
Anonymous
Company
Company
Max Barry

This novel is hysterical, especially for anyone who has worked in a corporate setting. Stephen Jones is a new employee hired at the Zephyr Holdings company and he soon discovers that his entire department’s purpose is to sell training modules to other departments within the company. He learns that no one has ever met the CEO and that employees have learned to survive by not questioning all of the seemingly arbitrary restructurings that seem to occur weekly. So Stephen makes it his mission to find out what is really going on at Zephyr Holdings and what he discovers just gets more bizarre as time goes on ultimately resulting in his promotion and being forced to deal with some very serious ethical quandaries. This novel is a quick read full of suspense and biting satire.

Nov 10, 2010
Kristy
The Windup Girl
Paolo Bacigalupi

In the future, energy is the highest commodity (calories in particular); the world can no longer rely on oil and fossil fuels. The Windup Girl connects the stories of four people living in Bangkok, Thailand: Anderson Lake, an American calorie man masquerading as a factory owner; Emiko, a windup girl genetically engineered in Japan; Capt. Jaidee, an officer in the Environment Ministry; and Tan Hock Seng, a Chinese refugee working for Anderson Lake. The country is suffering as irreconcilable differences between the Environment Ministry and the Trade Ministry are coming to a head.  Changes are coming for Thailand---see how all of these characters play a part.

Nov 4, 2010
Anonymous
The Passage
Justin Cronin

Sometime in the not-so-distant future a secret government program aims to create super-soldiers capable of giving the U.S. the upper hand in any and every military situation: super strong, super fast, and capable of incredible destruction.  But in the hour it takes the original "virals" to escape, humanity is forever changed.  The Passage follows a young girl named Amy through the collapse of modern society into a survival-centered, post-viral world.  Though Cronin's virals are - for all intents and purposes - vampires, this story is a great read for fans of zombie stories such as Max Brooks' World War Z or Robert Kirkman's the Walking Dead.

Nov 2, 2010
Anonymous
American Desert
Percival Everett

Ted Street has a problem: he’s dead but he’s not really dead. Ted died in an automobile accident 2 days before, but during his funeral service he sat bolt upright and was fully aware and communicative. The news catches like wildfire and Ted’s home and family are surrounded by media nuts trying to get an exclusive with him and his family. When he is later kidnapped, Ted is caught between religious zealots (some who think he is the devil, some who think he is the Messiah) and a secret government doctor who wants to discover his secret and make an undefeatable army out of his DNA. See whether Ted makes it out, dead, er … alive, er…, well see if he just makes it out to see his family again. This book has plenty of laughs for those who like their humor on the darker side.

Oct 30, 2010
Anonymous
Big Stone Gap
Adriana Trigiani

It's hard being the resident spinster in a tiny town, and Ave Maria Mulligan is well aware of the stigma as she goes about her day-to-day routine in Big Stone Gap, Virginia.  Life has become a little less mundane, however, with an onslaught of potential romances, unearthed family secrets, and some good old, small-town shenanigans.

Similar to a southern version of The Gilmore Girls, the characters are colorful but not too far-fetched, and Ave Maria's personal insights throughout the book are both funny and interesting. Thankfully the town's (and Ave Maria's) story doesn't stop with Big Stone Gap, as it is the first in a series of four. If you like it, be sure to check out the second book, Big Cherry Holler as well.

Oct 25, 2010
Anonymous

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