Wedding Season, by Katie Fforde

Katie Fforde has written many lovely, contemporary romances set in England.  Wedding Season is her latest, and it doesn’t disappoint. This story is told from the perspectives of three friends:  Sarah, a wedding planner; Elsa, a whiz seamstress; and Bron, a hairdresser with a flare for making special occasion cakes.  All three women have worked [...]

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Wondrous Strange, by Lesley Livingston

Livingston creates an engaging, quick fantasy with a satisfying touch of romance in this debut novel. Kelley Winslow is a 17-year-old actress working as an understudy in an off-off-off-off Broadway production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream. She gets her lucky break when the lead actress busts her ankle and Kelley has to step in and [...]

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The Sweet By and By, by Todd Johnson

My colleague Connie from Outreach Services kicks off the week with this review: The Sweet By and By explores the relationships between five very different Southern women and the lasting effect they have on each other. Lorraine is raising her daughter, April, while working as a practical nurse in a North Carolina health care center. She [...]

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Working with Science Fiction Readers: A Primer for Librarians

I’ll be presenting at the annual American Libraries Association conference in Washington DC on Monday, June 28th at 10:30. The panel is called “Science Fiction: Past, Present, and Future” and also features professor Eric Rabkin (talking about the history of the genre) and author and futurist Cory Doctorow (talking about where science fiction is going). [...]

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The List: Good Poems to Memorize

I know, the last time you had to memorize and recite a poem was in high school, and it probably was a traumatic experience. But you should reconsider. Studies have shown that memorization improves memory skills. So here are a handful of poems that you might want to have a go at. I guarantee you [...]

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The Sex Lives of Cannibals, by J. Maarten Troost

Life on a tropical island has got to be the ideal for most Westerners.  Warm sun, nothing to hear but the surf, nothing to see but palm trees, white sand, and the occasional sexy bathing suit.  Think of all those Corona ads—paradise, right? According to Maarten Troost, the reality is far from the ideal.  On [...]

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Master of War, by Benson Bobrick

Everyone knows that Ulysses S. Grant won the American Civil War by expending willing soldiers in a ruthless war of attrition.  And Sherman’s March to the Sea broke the back of the Confederacy by taking unlimited war to the South’s breadbasket.  Every other Northern general was either directed by them or eclipsed by their competence.  [...]

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Doctor Dogbody’s Leg, by James Norton Hall

What really happened to Doctor Dogbody’s larboard leg? Dr. F. Dogbody is temporarily ashore after a career as a Royal Navy surgeon.  At the Cheerful Tortoise tavern in Portsmouth, he weaves tales of his career afloat, of the ships and battles he served in, and of life in a warship’s bloody operating room.  Each of [...]

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Big Man, by Clarence Clemons and Don Reo

Clarence Clemons, for the terminally clueless, is the sax player for Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band.  Clemons is a Big Man, both in size (6’4″ and 240 pounds) and in his willingness to embrace life.  And, as we discover in Big Man, he’s as much of a storyteller as The Boss, but with [...]

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Causing a Scene, by Charlie Todd and Alex Scordelis

Some people have no sense of humor. Thankfully, others more than make up for them. Charlie Todd is one person who redeems hundreds of the humorless, and in Causing a Scene he shows why he is probably one of the funniest people you’ve never heard of. Charlie is the founder of Improv Everywhere, a loose-knit [...]

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The List: Brooding Lone-Wolf Heroes

They’ve all gone downhill since Mr. Rochester set the standard in Jane Eyre, but the craggy stony silent tortured types are still breaking hearts and acting aloof all these years later. Constantine in Sunshine, by Robin McKinley Harry Bosch in the Detective Bosch series, starting with The Black Echo, by Michael Connelly Bigby Wolf (who [...]

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It Might Get Loud

What happens when you put Jimmy Page of Led Zeppelin, Jack White of the White Stripes, and The Edge of U2 in the same room with tons of guitar equipment? It Might Get Loud! These three famous guitarists have personal and musical styles that are quite different, but they get together to share their experiences [...]

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Generation T: 108 Ways to Transform a T-Shirt, by Megan Nicolay

Summer is just around the corner, and it’s time to bring out the summer wardrobe. But, oh no! A t-shirt you liked last year is looking a bit drab this year. Maybe your favorite t-shirt mysteriously acquired a big ol’ stain. Or your favorite band only had size XL shirts left to purchase at the [...]

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Cats of Myth: Tales from Around the World, by Gerald and Loretta Hausman

I’ll admit it:  I’m a crazy cat lady. I’ve loved cats since I was a wee youngling. Recently while doing a catalog search for mythology, I  stumbled upon Cats of Myth and was intrigued, but its classification as children’s nonfiction caused hesitation. What could I learn about mythology from a children’s book? But, y’know, it’s [...]

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No Impact Man, by Colin Beavan

No Impact Man can be best summed up by its subtitle: “The adventures of a guilty liberal who attempts to save the planet and the discoveries he makes about himself and our way of life in the process.” Wordy, but intriguing. The author, Colin Beavan, led a past life as a history writer. It would [...]

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Daria: The Complete Animated Series

WOOHOO! Daria is finally on DVD! If you’re not familiar with the show, Daria is a cartoon that aired on MTV from 1997 to 2002. Since then, fans (count me as one) have been eagerly awaiting its arrival on DVD. We waited, and waited, and waited. Because of the hundreds of musical snippets from popular [...]

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The List: Painted Women, Women Painting

Inspired by the current exhibition at Norfolk’s Chrysler Museum, Women of the Chrysler, here’s a list of women and paintings in historical fiction. On one side of the easel, we have women painting: Artemisia Gentileschi, the first woman elected to Florence’s Accademia dell’Arti, inspires two novels: The Passion of Artemisia, by Susan Vreeland and Artemisia, [...]

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Feed, by Mira Grant

Look, it’s about zombies, and it’s about blogging. I kinda had to read it. Georgia “George” Mason heads a team of online journalists/content providers posting under the name “After the End Times.” In a heavily-armed news van, they travel through a world irrevocably changed by Kellis-Amberlee, a viral “perfect storm” that reanimates the infected dead. [...]

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