The Gold Coast, by Nelson DeMille

I had mentioned to a friend that I hadn’t read any books by Nelson DeMille and she raved over his 1990 novel, The Gold Coast, saying it wasn’t a typical DeMille, but was the best he had written.  DeMille has written several detective/espionage thrillers — and The Gold Coast doesn’t follow that type of plot.  But being the best? I think that may depend on what you’re looking for in a novel.

John Sutter and his wife, Susan, are comfortable, and perhaps a bit bored, with their life on Long Island’s North Shore, an area “that once held the greatest concentration of wealth and power in America.”   They live in the guest house of a 55-room mansion owned by Susan’s parents.  While wealthy, they aren’t in the strata of the wealthiest, like their new neighbor, mafia don Frank Bellarosa.  But they have respectability, and Frank certainly doesn’t.

Frank does have a certain dangerous appeal, and Susan and John find themselves dining with their neighbor and gradually becoming seduced by the power and charisma of the mafia don.

As John becomes more disenchanted with his “normal” life and superficial friends, he also finds himself making reckless decisions which eventually lead him to representing Frank in criminal proceedings.

There were many parts of this novel that I enjoyed.

I liked the main character, John Sutter.  John has a sarcastic wit, which surprisingly doesn’t get him in trouble as often as it should.  He gets away with saying what’s on his mind with seemingly no personal regrets.

I enjoyed the exciting courtroom scene toward the end of the book where John has to find where Frank is being arraigned on murder charges.  There is a great back-and-forth tension between John and the Attorney General.

My favorite part of the novel is the sense of place.  DeMille does a good job describing the mansions on the Gold Coast.  And not just the mansions in their former glory, with the recreated libraries and Roman temples, but the reality of the abandoned homes and neglected gardens.  DeMille portrays the reactions of the neighbors when these expensive historic homes are sold off for tract housing or bought by foreign investors.  It was a fascinating glimpse into an unbelievably wealthy world.

We read this as a recent selection for my book group.  Reactions were mixed.  Some liked the book for the same reasons I did, others said the plot dragged and they found the characters unlikeable.

DeMille wrote a sequel in 2008, which picks up John, Susan, and Frank’s son Anthony a decade later.  We have both The Gold Coast and The Gate House in the library collection.

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Check the WRL catalog for sequel, The Gate House

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Help, Thanks, Wow, by Anne Lamott

Anne Lamott talks about three types of prayers: help, thanks, and wow.

She writes, “Prayer is talking to something or anything with which we seek union.” And whether you believe in the Christian God, or Allah, or Buddha, or Earth Mother, or some other Great Being, simple variations of these prayers cover just about every situation.

It’s hard to describe the writing in this book. It is almost a stream-of-consciousness style – thoughts and insights as well as practical advice about how we can communicate with a higher power, and why it can make us a better person to do it.

Lamott is not preachy, nor does she write exclusively for one religion over another. She doesn’t give steps to follow in order to pray the “right” prayer.  Through her examples you realize she is advocating that anything goes as long as the feelings or words come from your heart.

Some thoughts from the author

Praying “Help” means that we ask that Something give us the courage to stop in our tracks right where we are, and turn our fixation away from the Gordian knot of our problems. (p. 40)

“Thanks” can be the recognition that you have been blessed mildly, or with a feeling as intense as despair at the miracle of having been spared. (p. 46)

When we are stunned to the place beyond words, when an aspect of life takes us away from being able to chip away at something until it’s down to a manageable size and then to file it nicely away, when all we can say in response is “Wow,” that’s a prayer. (p. 73)

This is a short book, easily read in one sitting.  But I think you’ll find that it is better to take it in small sips.  There’s a lot to absorb in these pages.  I’d recommend this for discussion with a book group.

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The Sky is Everywhere, by Jandy Nelson

I saw this YA novel on a list of books being made into movies – and I decided to read it before the movie rocketed it up the “it” list.

The plot synopsis sounds like the saddest story ever.  Lennie and her sister Bailey were abandoned by their mother when both were quite young.  They live happily with their quirky grandmother and uncle, believing that one day their mom will wander back into their lives.

Lennie is an introvert and band geek who lives in her vibrant sister’s shadow.  She likens herself to the companion pony that walks beside the sleek racehorse to keep it calm before a race. And suddenly Bailey dies.

Lennie thought she was happy walking behind Bailey, letting Bailey make decisions on what to do, and now Lennie is floating through each day without that anchor.

That’s the sad part.  And believe me, you’ll need to keep some tissues handy.  Why put yourself through that?  Because you’ll quickly come to realize Lennie is more than just Bailey’s little sister.  She has to work through her grief – and reconnect with friends – and fall in love – and forgive herself for feeling happy again.  But that discovery is compelling, I couldn’t wait to see what would happen next.  Some of it is like watching a train wreck, but it ends in a good place (I promise!).

The coolest thing about this book is the poems and brief memories that Lennie writes on walls, paper cups, homework assignments, books, benches… These memorabilia are described every few chapters, along with where Lennie left them.  How cool would it be to find a piece of someone’s life like this?  It is so much more honest and revealing than “Lennie was here” or other typical graffiti.

The book is certainly worth waiting on a long hold list for — so if you can’t pick it up right away, keep it in mind once you hear the movie hype.

FYI – the movie option was purchased by Selena Gomez’s production company.  The Disney star is set to play the main character, Lennie.  I haven’t seen anything that gives more details than the movie is “in development.”

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Rot & Ruin, by Jonathan Maberry

I was looking for something easy to listen to and picked up the YA book Rot & Ruin without really knowing what it was about — except that it was about zombies.  I was expecting a pretty typical “run from the monsters” plot and was completely surprised by the  sympathy the author evoked for the zombies.  Don’t get me wrong, there’s action, plenty of “uh-oh the monsters might catch me” suspense, but I was surprised at who was the real monster.

The world has been changed by a cataclysm – some sort of medical or environmental disaster that caused some people, including Benny’s parents, to turn into zombies.  And as people turned to zombies, they infected others until their sheer numbers overran cities large and small…

Groups of  survivors gathered in outposts with fences and patrols to keep the zombies out.  Most people don’t venture into the “great Rot & Ruin” – the zombie- infested expanse separating the outposts from each other.

That’s the post-apocalyptic world Benny Imura has grown up in.  And he hates zombies with a white hot passion. His older brother, Tom, is a zombie hunter, supposedly one of the best.  But Benny doubts it.  His earliest memory is of Tom running away when his parents were turned to zombies.  Benny hasn’t forgiven Tom for not staying to fight.

Benny goes to school and hangs out with friends.  But some of Benny’s favorite times are when the “real” zombie hunters like Charlie Pink-eye and the Motor City Hammer tell stories of how they fought zoms in the Rot & Ruin.  It sounds so cool when they tell the stories.

In the fall after Benny turns 15 he has to find a job or face having his rations cut.  When he runs out of options, he reluctantly approaches his brother about going into the family business.  But hunting zombies is not what Benny thought it would be.

There’s depth to this story, as well as lots of nail-biting tension and some really heart-wrenching revelations.  Rot & Ruin is the first in a series.  I can’t wait to see what happens next to Benny and his friends!

Check the WRL catalog for Rot & Ruin

Check the WRL catalog for the audiobook of Rot & Ruin

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Secret Lives of the First Ladies: What Your Teachers Never Told You, by Cormac O’Brien

In advance appreciation of President’s Day, read about the contributions of the First Ladies.

Cormac O’Brien’s book gives brief biographies from Martha Washington to Laura Bush. After describing each woman’s background and marriage to the man who would be president, there are two or three tidbits about “what your teachers never told you.”

Some of these facts I already knew:  that Abigail Fillmore (First Lady from 1850-1853) is credited with starting the White House library or that Nancy Reagan (First Lady from 1981-1989) consulted an astrologer. But other “secrets” were new to me.

Take the fascinating story of Louisa Catherine Adams’s (John Quincy’s wife, First Lady 1825-1829) trip from Russia to Paris with her son Charles Francis and a few servants. The journey took six weeks and was one of the most harrowing ever for a First Wife. At one point Louisa used her son’s toy sword to deter marching brigades from attacking her carriage in France (this being the time Napoleon was making his triumphant return). And did you know that Bess Truman (First Lady 1945-1953) sent her laundry to Kansas City for washing because she didn’t think the establishments in Washington could do a good job?

It was interesting to see how many of the wives, particularly at the beginning of the new nation, dreaded having their husbands take on the presidency. But even contemporary First Ladies had their reservations about their new role. Laura Bush was asked by reporters what her concerns were upon becoming First Lady. She replied, “It’s a major life change. I’m not particularly worried about safety. Privacy. I’m very worried about privacy.”

Because the book is set up in short chapters dedicated to each First Lady, you can spend a few minutes reading one or two entries, or a whole afternoon soaking up decades of history. Either way, pick up Secret Lives and brush up on some little-known chapters in America’s past.

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Cupid, by Julius Lester

Happy Valentine’s Day!

Today’s book is a young adult retelling of the Greco-Roman myth of Cupid and Psyche.

The story in a nutshell: beautiful, mortal girl Psyche falls in love with Cupid, the god of love. Cupid, having never been in love himself, doesn’t trust Psyche’s feelings for him and makes stupid demands. Psyche in turn makes a dumb mistake, and they break up. Jealous mother/goddess puts girl through several tests, and just when you think she’ll make it, it looks like she won’t. But Cupid shows up at the last minute and saves the day. They live happily ever after.

Hmmm, that sounds like quite a few romance books I’ve read.

What makes Julius Lester’s book so appealing is the playful narrator who speaks directly to the reader and provides commentary on why people are behaving as they are. His lessons on love are insightful for readers of all ages. I particularly liked his observation at the end:

The interesting thing about this story is that it taught me that sometimes I act like Cupid and sometimes I act like Psyche.  Stories don’t much care who’s male and who’s female, because everybody has a little of both inside them.  That why this story and my story and your story, well, they’re all the same story.”

The audiobook, read by actor Stephen McKinley Henderson, is delightful. I could listen to Henderson’s rich, rumbly voice read the phone book and be happy. Needless to say, his narration of Cupid had me hanging on every word of the story.

Check the WRL catalog for Cupid

Check the WRL catalog for the audiobook of Cupid

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God Said, “Ha!” by Julia Sweeney

A friend told me she picked up this book for the title alone.  She didn’t know Julia Sweeney was part of the Saturday Night Live cast several years ago.  She was just drawn to the title and the blurb on the front that says “Laughing through the worst year of my life.”  My friend kept recounting the funny parts, so I had to read the book for myself.

Julia Sweeney is well known for playing the androgynous character “Pat” in the SNL skits and the 1994 movie It’s Pat.  She also has appeared in numerous television shows and films, including Pulp Fiction and Beethoven 3.

But this isn’t a Hollywood “tell all.”

The book  describes how Julia is at a turning point in her life in the 1990s.  Her stint with SNL was ending, her marriage was breaking up (amicably), and she was ready for a new start.

She writes:

I was finally an independent adult! I felt so mature and self-reliant.  I had gone to college, I’d started my career, I’d even had the big wedding, and that BIG relationship.  But nothing was more exciting to me now than having my own place.

And that’s when God just said… “Ha!”

Her brother Mike, who had always been an independent, private individual, was diagnosed with lymph cancer.  His condition worsened quickly and he had to move in with her in her new, cozy bungalow.  Her parents, whom she loved (but perhaps loved best from a distance of several hundred miles), moved in with her to help take care of Mike.  And Julia was reduced to sleeping on the sofa in the dream home she had finally created.

The interplay of Julia and her parents had me laughing out loud.  She writes that the fresh chunky salsa she purchased was replaced with a can of tomato paste that her mother was sure could double as salsa. Julia’s mother interrupted her at work because she couldn’t find the Parmesan cheese. It blew her mom’s mind that she had to grate the chunk of Parmesan in the fridge herself.  “And she said, shaking her head, ‘Oh, Julie, you don’t have to do all that.’”

Then when things can’t get any worse, they do.  Julia herself is diagnosed with a rare form of cervical cancer.  But she focuses on taking things one day at a time, and she continues to find humor in the interactions with her family.

Don’t get me wrong: there was a point where I had to continue reading through my tears, but I didn’t feel the book was about the cancer, or the medical treatments, or the unfairness of life—it was about family.  A quirky, loving family.  And Julia Sweeney does a fantastic job of taking the reader through the journey of the worst year of her life.

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Grave Mercy, by Robin LaFevers

Grave Mercy is the first of Robin LaFevers’ His Fair Assassin series.  It takes place in Brittany in the late 1400s.  The Duke has recently died, leaving 12-year-old Anne facing many suitors for her hand and her kingdom.

Ismae, the daughter of a turnip farmer, is unaware of the precarious situation in her country.  Her world is the small village where she grew up abandoned by her mother and brutalized by her father.  When her circumstances can get no worse, she finds salvation at the hands of strangers who secret her away to the convent of St. Mortain, the ancient god of Death.  Her days are spent learning swordfighting, poisons and their uses, hand-to-hand combat, and the “womanly arts” because as a handmaiden of Death, she must be ready to use any means necessary to fulfill Mortain’s will.

During her trials to prove her readiness for service, she meets Gavriel Duval, one of the young duchess’ most trusted advisors.  Duval catches Ismae moments after she killed a traitor who was marked for death by the saint.  He follows Ismae to the convent where he tries to get the reverend mother to cooperate with his need to catch and question the traitors before they are killed.  The reverend mother neatly traps him into taking Ismae with him to court in Guerande so as to keep the convent better informed of the factions warring for the kingdom.

Viscount Crunard, chancellor of Brittany, and the reverend mother put another task to Ismae, keep Duval under surveillance to determine if he is the traitor working against the Duchess.

Now Ismae faces court intrigue, complex family dynamics and the unfamiliar feelings of falling in love.  But while out of her element, she doesn’t sit idly by and wait for orders from the Convent, nor does she follow every directive from Duval.  She shows spunk and an appealing independence.  Her training as an assassin and special talents as a follower of Mortain come in handy more than once.

And while Ismae grows impatient waiting for her saint to indicate who among the many suspects she should kill, time is running out for the young Duchess as France makes moves to invade.

Grave Mercy is a fast-paced story based on actual people and events.  While the first of a series, it neatly stands alone.  Don’t get me wrong, I want to read what comes next, but I wasn’t left unsatisfied after I read the last page.  I can see this book, and the rest of the series, appealing to adults as well as young adults.  The main characters are well-developed, and the supporting cast is interesting. And did I mention the falling in love part?  Well-written and satisfyingly believable.

I particularly enjoyed listening to the audiobook which was skillfully narrated by Erin Moon.  She did a terrific job changing her inflections for the different characters.  I especially liked hearing the correct pronunciation of the character and city names.  The audiobook is about 14 hours long.

Check the WRL catalog for Grave Mercy

Check the WRL catalog for the audiobook of Grave Mercy

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An Affair with Mr. Kennedy, by Jillian Stone

For historical romance with a strong mystery element, pick up this debut novel from Jillian Stone.  The story takes place in London, 1887.  It’s James Bond meets a Victorian Katharine Hepburn!

Zeno Kennedy of Scotland Yard has been investigating bombings by a terrorist group in London.  The terrorist group is trying to force Ireland’s independence from England through revolution.  Zeno gets a break in the case when he rents a townhouse to the widow Cassandra St. Cloud.  An informant has led him to believe Cassandra’s brother-in-law is a member of the  “Bloody Four,” aristocrats responsible for funding the dynamiters.

It is no hardship for Zeno to strike up a conversation with the attractive, and oddly progressive, widow. Cassie smokes cigars in her garden, wears pants while bicycling in the park, and approaches sex with a decidedly un-Victorian attitude.  And Cassie’s plucky spirit comes in handy as they face one dangerous situation after another.  In between they find time to fall in love!

I thought the story was well-balanced between the investigation and the growing romance between the lead characters.  And the historical part wasn’t focused so much on tea parties, balls, and the formal manners as in other historical romances I’ve read.  This may not be a good fit for you if you enjoy your Victorian romances without the intrusion of modern ideas, but I found that intrusion funny and engaging.

An Affair with Mr. Kennedy won the 2010 Romance Writers of America Golden Heart award for Historical Romance and is the first in Jillian Stone’s The Gentlemen of Scotland Yard series.

Next up in the series is A Dangerous Liaison with Detective Lewis, which takes a closer look at Zeno’s colleague, Detective Rafe Lewis.

Check the WRL catalog for An Affair with Mr. Kennedy

Check the WRL catalog for A Dangerous Liaison with Detective Lewis

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Saint’s Gate, by Carla Neggers

FBI agent Emma Sharpe has a strong background in fine art recovery.  Her family is renown for investigating and recovering stolen pieces of art.  But she ends up involved in a murder and missing art investigation because she had also once been close to taking vows to become a nun.

One of her mentors at the Sisters of the Joyful Heart convent asked Emma for a favor.  Could she look at a piece of art and give her opinion?  Without any further information, Emma returns to Maine to meet with Sister Joan.  But instead of a simple art evaluation,  she finds that Sister Joan is dead and a painting assumed to be from a local artist has disappeared.

To complicate matters, a local priest has asked his friend, Colin Donovan, to keep an eye on Emma.  Father Finian is new to the parish.  His motives for asking Colin for help are not entirely clear, but Colin agrees.  He’s in the middle of some needed rest & recuperation time (trying to keep the Russian mafia off his tail), but willing to take a side trip to help the attractive FBI agent with her case, whether she wants his help or not.

Colin also works for the FBI, but not at a desk job as his family assumes.  He goes deep undercover and investigates the worst of the FBI’s most wanted.  He wonders if the murder could be related to his latest case.

Emma thinks it is mostly annoying to have this other agent follow her footsteps.   She can’t even continue her investigation in Ireland without Colin and Father Finian showing up.  Is anyone who they seem to be on the surface?

Carla Neggers writes well-paced, plot-based stories.  There are plenty of details building characters and their backgrounds.   And there’s a little romance, always a plus for me.  It may not be convenient and it certainly doesn’t get in the way of the job, but Colin and Emma are definitely attracted to one another.

The story comes to a satisfying conclusion to both the romance and the mystery of the missing painting.

Check the WRL catalog for Saint’s Gate

If you enjoy Saint’s Gate, check out Heron’s Cove, which continues Emma and Colin’s crime-solving partnership.

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Christmas in the Clouds

I remember one of our library users recommending Christmas in the Clouds to me last year.  She said it wasn’t a typical feel-good holiday movie, but in a good way.  It was a movie she would check out to watch again and again.  I’m sorry it took me a whole year to get around to watching this – it is delightful!

Sky Mountain Resort is located on an American Indian reservation and is in desperate need of some publicity.  The resort manager, Ray Clouds on Fire, receives a letter that a travel magazine is sending a reviewer to check out the resort over the Christmas holiday week.  A good review would be just what they need to get more guests to the resort.  The staff doesn’t know who this reviewer will be — so of course, they assume it’s the wrong guest.

One of the many quirky characters at the resort is the chef played by Graham Greene (Dances with Wolves, Twilight).  He’s a vegetarian, reluctantly fixing dishes with meat to appease his boss.  But when he comes out to the dining room to greet the guests during dinner, well, you just have to watch what happens.

And there’s romance!  Ray’s dad has been corresponding with a widow who decides to surprise him with a visit to the resort.  Again, a mistaken identity worthy of a Shakespearean play ensues.  But with the attraction, flirtation, tongue-in-cheek silliness… the movie delivered more than what I was expecting.

Christmas in the Clouds was featured in the 2001 Sundance Film Festival.  It also competed in the 2001 editions of the Austin Film Festival and the Santa Fe Film Festival, winning the Best Competition Feature Film Award and the Best Native American-Themed Film Award, respectively.

While the mistaken identity theme isn’t new, it is treated well.  It’s not zany; it’s amusing.  You won’t guffaw; but you’ll have a smile on your face.  If you’re looking for a sweet romance with a touch of Christmas cheer – snuggle up with Christmas in the Clouds (94 minutes, rated PG).

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False Memory, by Dan Krokos

Here’s another fast-paced young adult novel to try.  The main character is again a warrior girl, but instead of living in the time of knights and ladies, this story takes place closer to modern or near future times.

Miranda finds herself in a mall, with no memory of anything beyond her name.  When she asks the mall cop for help, he thinks she’s just playing games with him.  As she tries to explain, her head begins to hurt until at last the pain radiates outward.  She is horrified to see people flee in fear.  Unsure what’s going on, she scans the panicking crowd until she sees  a guy her age just watching her.

He tells her his name is Peter, and that he knows her.  Because he says he can explain what just happened, Miranda follows him to an underground bunker in the forest.

She discovers that she is part of a team of four genetically engineered kids who are being trained as “crowd control weapons.”  One of the side effects of the gene therapy is memory loss, which is countered by taking medicine.  She was taken off the medicine without her knowledge by one of her teammates, Noah.  Noah and the fourth member of their team, Olive, have gone missing.

Miranda and Peter must locate their missing comrades and bring them back to the facility.  But in the process they uncover the lies they have been told about their true purpose and how they came to exist.  Lots of twists and turns and double-crosses keep the action moving.  And the fight sequences are engaging and detailed.

False Memory is Dan Krokos’ debut novel.  The story is definitely set up for a sequel, which I understand is due out in 2013, but don’t wait to pick up this exciting read.

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Alanna, The First Adventure, by Tamora Pierce

Tamora Pierce is an award-winning and bestselling fantasy author of young adult literature.  She has written stand alone books and short stories as well as multiple series.  Her first young adult novel, published in 1983, was Alanna, the First Adventure.

This story opens with Alanna and her twin brother Thom unhappy about their father’s decision to send them away for school.  It’s not that they don’t want to leave home and have new experiences, it’s that they wish their father would consider what they want to do.

Alanna doesn’t want to go to a convent and learn all the boring necessities of being a lady.  She wants to be a knight, a warrior maiden.  And Thom really doesn’t enjoy sword fighting and battle strategy, he’d rather be a great sorcerer.

The two decide to take their fates into their own hands and switch places.  With the help of two dedicated servants, Alanna heads to Duke Gareth of Naxen as “Alan of Trebond” to serve as a page while Thom goes to the City of Gods to study magic.  Their negligent father is none the wiser.

Alanna pays attention and learns her lessons well.  She also shows she has a strong character and doesn’t let others fight her battles.  Mixed in with the lessons and sword fights are court politics, sorcery, and the continual stress of hiding her true nature from her friends.  I kept expecting her secret to be revealed at every new scene — how long would the boys believe that “Alan” was just a small-framed boy with a fear of swimming with the group?

Alanna is a great role model — she embodies all the good qualities of a knight — but the book ends before she completes her training.  You’ll have to keep reading the series!  And don’t think just because Alanna has the makings of a hero that she’s boring.  There is plenty of mischief to keep the story clipping along.

While this book is recommended for ages 12 and up, I enjoyed the fast-paced action driven story as an adult. I listened to the books as well as read them because I couldn’t wait to find out what would happen next.  The audiobook, read by actress Trini Alvarado, is only 5 disks.

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Chop Shop, by Tim Downs

I broke one of my rules for reading series. I read book number two before reading book number one in Tim Downs’ Bug Man novels.  But I survived!  It wasn’t difficult to follow the story and understand the characters, though I do have book number one, Shoofly Pie first on my TBR list!

Nick Polchak is a professor at North Carolina State University. He’s a forensic entomologist.  Students flock to his classes to watch him, more than to learn about the bugs he studies.  And his private research in decomposition has “spawned campus legends about missing undergraduates and shallow graves deep in the Carolina woods.”

His fascination with all things buggy leads Dr. Riley McKay to his door.  Dr. McKay is a pathology fellow in the Allegheny County coroner’s office.  She has a feeling that something is off with a few of the autopsies her boss has recently signed off.  The fact that her concerns are brushed aside by the coroner make her cautious of involving any of her colleagues.  She’s looking for someone to corroborate  her suspicions that something is amiss.

Nick’s initial findings with which bugs laid eggs in what orifice (yep, sort of gross) seem to lead credence that the victims died under different circumstances than their death certificate indicates.  But why?  Their investigation leads them to an up-and-coming pharmaceutical company with a cash flow problem.

The pacing of the mystery is good.  There were some plot twists I wasn’t expecting, and a few that I was.  But I enjoyed the ride. Nick’s sense of humor as well as the sweet romance developing between Riley and Nick were additional treats.  After catching up with book one, I intend to read the whole series, which now has six titles.

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Gene Kelly: Anatomy of a Dancer

One of the most celebrated dancers of the 20^th century, Gene Kelly, was born in 1912 (one hundred years ago!). He is still revered among film and dance enthusiasts for his innovative work in film musicals, his charming personality on screen, and most of all, for his remarkable skill as a dancer.

WRL recently purchased Gene Kelly: Anatomy of a Dancer, part of the “American Masters” series. This nonfeature DVD is narrated by actor Stanley Tucci and gives terrific insight into Kelly’s career.

I enjoyed watching the film clips of Kelly in motion. The documentary spends a lot of time talking about his “common man” style of dancing. Where Fred Astaire may have made dancing look effortless, Kelly’s physical style showed the athleticism of dance.

I didn’t know that On the Town, the musical Kelly performed with Frank Sinatra, Vera-Ellen, Betty Garrett, and Ann Miller was the first musical to be shot on location (New York City, to be exact). It’s very common now, but apparently before Kelly and co-director Stanley Donen insisted, going on site to film a dance sequence wasn’t considered by studio moguls.

The show also had lots of tidbits about my favorite, Singin’ in the Rain. I didn’t know that Kelly had to change suits during the iconic rain sequence because the first one shrunk up after getting wet. And it never occurred to me that all that water pouring on his head would affect the ability of the neighborhoods surrounding the studio to water their lawns!

I was enchanted by the insights into his personal life. Kelly was a good athlete and apparently very competitive. He had to drop out of filming Easter Parade, a role he recommended that Fred Astaire fill, because he broke his ankle after stamping his foot in frustration over a volleyball game!

The DVD is only a little over an hour long. But there’s a lot of information and entertainment packed into the show.

Check the WRL catalog for Gene Kelly: Anatomy of a Dancer.

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The House on Tradd Street, by Karen White

Real estate agent Melanie Middleton specializes in selling old homes. But she doesn’t like old homes. They smell of beeswax and mothballs and are a lot of work to refurbish. And then there’s the ghosts that tend to linger among the living…

Melanie was expecting the visit to the house on Tradd Street to be like any other. An elderly homeowner was moving someplace more manageable, and hopefully would list the house with her. She wasn’t expecting to see the shadow of a woman in the garden pushing an empty swing. Nor was she expecting Mr. Vanderhorst to have had a connection to her grandfather. And she certainly wasn’t expecting to have the house bequeathed to her a few days later when Mr. Vanderhorst died, leaving a mystery for her to solve about the disappearance of his mother, Louisa, many years ago.

To complicate things a little more, handsome writer Jack Trenholm contacts Melanie and wants information on the house so he can write a story about the disappearance of Mrs. Vanderhorst in 1929. He’ll even help her with the renovations if she’ll let him poke around the house.

So three days after being told the house was hers if she accepted the terms of the will, Melanie finds herself “the owner of an antique pile of rotten lumber, and encumbered by a dog, a housekeeper, and a guilt trip as long as the Cooper River.”

Melanie soon realizes that there are actually two spirits in the house—Louisa and an evil presence that wishes her harm. As she gets closer to solving the mystery of Louisa’s disappearance, the element of danger rises as well. Someone or something doesn’t want the truth to get out. But the disappearance of Louisa isn’t the only secret the house holds tight.

It’s a good story with interesting twists. With more than a gentle spirit at work, it’s exciting, but not stressful enough to have to sleep with the lights on. The mystery is engaging and the living characters are contemporary and fun.

The House on Tradd Street is the first in a series featuring Melanie and her ghost-seeing abilities.

Check the WRL catalog for The House on Tradd Street.

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The Age of Miracles, by Karen Thompson Walker

Something about this debut novel by Karen Thompson Walker looks like a Young Adult novel, but it’s not. However I can see this appealing to teens or adults of any age who enjoy speculative fiction like Gone by Michael Grant, Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood, or One Second After by William R. Forstchen.

The Age of Miracles is a disaster story told through the eyes of a middle school-aged girl, Julia.

It starts out as a normal day. Julia’s best friend, Hanna, had slept over the night before. As they were getting ready to eat breakfast, the news broke that the earth’s rotation was slowing.

Big deal, right? Who wouldn’t welcome a few extra minutes in every day? Only the slowing didn’t stop with a few extra minutes. Fairly quickly the slowing began to add hours to the day and night cycle. And no one could figure out how to stop it.

The added hours of daylight and nighttime affect when school starts and ends. People stop wearing watches and try to base their day on when the sun rises and sets. When the governments step in two weeks after the slowing and suggest that everyone keep to a 24-hour clock, Julia sees how the concept of “day” becomes unhooked from “light.” When a few neighbors decide to forego “clock time” and stay on “real time,” Julia witnesses how they are singled out for senseless harassment.

The story focuses on details of everyday life, specifically, how Julia observes people around her managing to carry on in the face of the growing changes—as birds die; crops fail; homes flood; radiation increases. And meanwhile, Julia feels abandoned by her best friend, falls in love with a boy, and watches her parents’ marriage falter.

It is both redeeming and disturbing how normal things are for her as the earth slowly, slowly, slowly rotates around the sun.

This isn’t a book that will leave you with a smile on your face—but  I guarantee you’ll be thinking about it long after you finish the last page.

The Age of Miracles is another book I read as well as listened to on CD because I couldn’t wait to find out what happens next.  The audiobook is seven discs long (9 hours) and was well read by Emily Janice Card.

Check the WRL catalog for The Age of Miracles.

Check the WRL catalog for the audiobook of The Age of Miracles.

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Between the Lines, by Jodi Picoult and Samantha Van Leer

This is another fairy tale romance, though with a different twist.

Mother/daughter team Jodi Picoult and Samantha Van Leer explore what it might be like for characters when the book closes. Do they just stand around and wait for the reader to pick up where he or she left off, or do the characters have their own lives between the pages? In this story, the answer is that the characters live out their own lives until the book opens and they play their parts.

Delilah’s “real life” isn’t that great. She is in high school now, but still doesn’t have many friends—and her mom is always busy with work. Her main pleasure is reading. She particularly loves the story of Oliver and his quest to save Seraphima from a wicked magician. Even though the fairy tale is really meant for younger readers, Delilah reads the book again and again. It makes her happy to read how Oliver overcomes various challenges by using his wits. What she finds particularly appealing is that Oliver had to grow up without a father and so did she.

One day she is more than surprised when she notices a change in one of the illustrations.  She’s certain she would have remembered that design in the sand in the hundreds of times she read the book before…

When Oliver realizes that Delilah noticed the chess board he accidentally left in the sand during a break in the reading of the story, he is determined to make a connection to her. He shouts out—and Delilah hears him! At last he has a chance to leave the story and make his own adventures.

The rest of the story is Delilah and Oliver building a relationship despite coming from such different backgrounds (he is a prince, after all) and exploring ways for Oliver to leave the confines of the story. Can the magic of the story be altered to let a character escape to live his own life—or, once something is written, is it always the same?

I admired the story for not making a simple solution to the problem. Oliver can’t just write himself out of the book. And it doesn’t work out so well when Oliver tries to write Delilah into the story. On top of all that, Delilah is talking to a character in her book like he’s a real person—is she going crazy?

Between the Lines is an original, entertaining story about young friendship/love and a quest to be together. The story is cleverly split three ways: the original fairy tale story, Oliver’s point of view, and Delilah’s point of view. It is obvious when you’re reading the book which person’s perspective is being told. I also listened to this on audiobook and was easily able to follow the different voices. I hope to see more collaborative efforts from this team of writers!

Check the WRL catalog for Between the Lines.

Check the WRL catalog for the audiobook of Between the Lines.

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