Gimme a Call, by Sarah Mlynowski

At some point in our lives, we have all wished that we could send a message back in time to a younger version of ourselves. Maybe it would be a warning, or piece of advice that would have made life much easier. In Gimme a Call, author Sarah Mlynowski describes such a scenario, in which [...]

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I am Number Four, by Pittacus Lore

The alien planet Lorien is under attack. The Mogadorians are destroying everything on the peaceful planet, leaving no survivors. A Lorien ship carrying nine children and their guardians takes off in a desperate attempt to protect the race. They travel to Earth, with the hope that they can integrate into society and hide from the [...]

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The List: Academic Fiction

My daughter started college this week, and I start teaching a class for Catholic University’s graduate program in Library Science next week. So, I find myself thinking of books about school and academics. There are a lot of fascinating works of fiction set in academia. They are often funny, satiric, and thoughtful in equal measure. [...]

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Nobody’s Baby But Mine, by Susan Elizabeth Phillips

Dr. Jane Darlington is a genius physicist who wants a baby.  But Dr. Darlington doesn’t want just any baby, she wants one that is considered normal and won’t suffer the taunts and isolation she felt as a child.  Obviously the only way to make that happen is to make a baby with someone whose IQ [...]

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One Summer, by Karen Robards

Eleven years ago Johnny Grant was convicted of the brutal murder of his high school sweetheart.  Recently paroled, Johnny comes back to Tylerville, Kentucky to work at a small hardware store.  Needless to say the townspeople are not pleased.  Born on the wrong side of the tracks, Johnny was always an outcast.  Now that another [...]

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Finders Keepers, by Sharon Sala

Sometimes when everything is finally going right for you, life will throw in a monkey wrench to shake things up. Molly Eden is finally happy. She owns the successful Garden of Eden flower shop, has many good friends, and has found peace with the accident that killed her unborn child and destroyed her ability to [...]

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Mr. Perfect, by Linda Howard

Linda Howard is a popular contemporary romance writer known for suspenseful stories, smart and sassy heroines, and capital “A” alpha heroes.  Many readers know and love her from her popular Silhouette series about the Mackenzies but she has also gained a large following from her more mainstream romantic suspense novels.  One of her most popular [...]

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The Color Purple, by Alice Walker

Every year at the start of summer I take a peek at what the high schools are recommending for summer reading. Most of the time I put several of these titles on the top of my “to be read” (TBR) list and promptly bypass them when I am distracted by the bright, shiny, new books [...]

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The List: Cooking Up Something Good

I enjoy cooking, especially in the summer when there are plenty of fresh vegetables, fruits,  and herbs in the garden, only a short walk from the kitchen door. I also enjoy looking through cookbooks to get some new ideas on how to use different ingredients. Here are some of my favorite collections of recipes and [...]

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Into the Beautiful North, by Luis Alberto Urrea

With all the talk about illegal immigration in the United States (especially in the context of Arizona’s controversial SB1070 law),  Urrea offers a balanced and sympathetic description of Mexican emigration that supporters and opponents would do well to read.  But this isn’t a scholarly assessment or weekend supplement puff piece—it is fiction based on Urrea’s [...]

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The Hot Kid, by Elmore Leonard

Seems like I’ve been spending a lot of my reading time in Oklahoma lately. Especially the Oklahoma of the Great Depression, which will never be considered the highlight of the state’s history.  Elmore Leonard’s story The Hot Kid was my most recent visit to the Sooner State, and it brings a new view of dusty and [...]

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Harpsong, by Rilla Askew

I’m a browser.  Readers’ advisory aside (and believe me, I know the value of having a knowledgeable person suggest good books), I still love the feeling of finding a title I’d never heard of and discovering a whole new world. That isn’t restricted to wandering the physical stacks. I can also browse using the library’s [...]

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Slow Horses, by Mick Herron

Foul-ups—every organization has them.  The guy who accidentally faxed a sensitive document to the wrong number.  The woman who didn’t back up the computer system and lost years’ worth of data.  The person who hit “Reply All” with a smart-aleck comment.  Some organizations can even get rid of them, but others have less flexibility.  For [...]

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The Hole We’re In, by Gabrielle Zevin

It’s too bad Hallmark doesn’t make a line of cards acknowledging the one thing all families have in common—betrayal.  Large or small, betrayal of some kind is the natural result of the kind of intimacy and mutual dependency found in any household.  And betrayal is at the heart of The Hole We’re In.  Ostensibly about [...]

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The List: Great Road Books

A brief driving trip this past summer got me thinking about great road stories. Whether the mode of travel is car, train, plane, or shank’s mare, these tales of the highways and byways are always interesting for their insights into both the traveler and the route. Here are some of my favorite titles of being [...]

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The American, by Henry James and The Age of Innocence, by Edith Wharton

We round out a week of posts by WRL’s Circulation Services staff with Alan’s take on two American classics.–Editor Henry James and Edith Wharton are frequently paired, compared, and contrasted, often to the detriment of the latter. Partly this is due to the chauvinism of male literary critics, partly the belief that James tackled more [...]

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Affluenza: The all-consuming epidemic, by John de Graaf, David Wann and Thomas H. Naylor

We continue a week of posts by WRL’s Circulation Services bloggers. Today, Elizabeth reviews an influential book about the ills of having too much stuff.–Editor Can reading one book change the way that you will live the rest of your life?  If that book is Affluenza, the answer to this question could be yes. Affluenza, [...]

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Departures (Japan, 2008)

Mandy of WRL’s Circulation Services reviews an award-winning Japanese movie.—Editor Daigo Kobayashi (Masahiro Motoki) is a young cellist who has achieved his dream of playing in an orchestra despite a traumatic childhood, which includes his parents’ divorce and his subsequent abandonment by his father. Then a series of events occur which send him on the [...]

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