Gargoyle by Andrew Davidson

It is only fitting that my last blog entry for this blog, hosted by the Warren County-Vicksburg Public Library, be about a book that astounded me with it's lyrical beauty.   A friend of mine loaned me Gargoyle,  by Andrew Davidson, a few months ago and while I initially was interested in the story, I was distracted by other books and put it down.  I recently took a trip and discovered that the library has Gargoyle on CD, so I jumped at the chance to check it out and

finish it!  The story is simply stunning.  The book opens with the story of the narrator, who is visually beautiful by morally blank, as he is driving along a dark road and becomes distracted by what appears to be a group of arrows.  He crashes into a ravine and suffers horrible burns over most of his body.  He wakes in a hospital and suffers treatments until a somewhat unhinged gargoyle sculptress, Marianne Engel, appears at his bedside and insists they were lovers in medieval Germany.  She then spins the tale of their past life-intertwined with other tales of lovers--in a beautiful, twisting, tale of love and life.  He is eventually released into her care and they attempt to have a life together. The writing is beautiful and the story is intense as is the descriptions of burn victim treatments.  I believe you'll be as entranced as I was with this bookl, whether you check out the library's hardback copy or listen to the audio version.

A Cozy Library Mystery

     Author Miranda James continues her Cat in the Stacks Mysteries with the fifth book --The Silence of the Library. Charlie Harris, a kind and warm semi-retired librarian, and his large Maine Coon cat, Diesel spend their time working at the local college library as well as the public library of Athena, Mississippi. Unfortunately, Charlie always seems to get caught up in nefarious goings-on in this small Southern town. This time, Charlie is helping Teresa, the director of the public library, organize an event centered around children's detective stories for National Library Week. Fortunately for them, the centenary novelist Electra Barnes Cartwright--creator of the beloved Veronica Thane series--is a local resident. Charlie and Teresa convince Mrs. Cartwright to appear at their event. They don't realize, however, that inviting such a beloved writer to the event will bring out all manner of unstable individuals. When Carrie Taylor--a blogger and longtime fan of Mrs. Cartwright's work--agrees to bring some of her own memorabilia to be displayed in the library, she turns up dead. Why would anyone want to kill such a pleasant and innocuous woman? Could it be because she owned a rare version of the very first Veronica Thane book? Charlie is caught up in the matter, much to the chagrin of Deputy Kanesha Berry. On top of the murder, someone has broken into the hotel rooms of a couple of book collectors who have turned up for the event and Mrs. Cartwright's literary agent seems to have gone missing. Charlie and Diesel work their way through the clues and the list of suspects to give Kanesha a helping hand--whether she wants it or not! The ending will surprise many and the little twist is quite refreshing. I highly recommend this series for fans of cozy mysteries. If you would like to check out any of the other Cat in the Stacks Mysteries by Miranda James, they are:

1.  Murder Past Due
2.  Classified As Murder
3.  File M for Murder
4.  Out of Circulation
5.  The Silence of the Library

The Big Book of Baby Quilts!

The library just received a gorgeous new quilting book!  The Big Book of Baby Quilts published by The Patchwork Place contains 87 cute and cuddly baby quilt patterns with patterns, color photos and easy to follow directions.  The patterns range from easy to hard, and from traditional to abstract patterns.  The full-color photographs make creating the quilts an easy process, and the detailed directions make it easy to figure how many different fabrics you need to buy and the amount of each fabric you need.  The book includes quilts that are pieced and appliqued and many different quilting techniques are explained in the book too.  This book would be a great read for any quilter, as the quilt patterns can be used for baby quilts and/or modified to make bigger quilts.  This book is currently housed on our new nonfiction book shelves and can be checked out for a three week period. 

Take a Stroll Through the Pines

Blake Crouch has written an unnerving novel titled the Pines.  Wayward Pines, Idaho is a quintessential small town in America, or so it seems on the surface.  Secret Service Agent Ethan Burke visits the town in search of two missing federal agents but is sidelined by an auto accident when he arrives.  He wakes up at the edge of town with amnesia, a killer headache and soon realizes that this "little corner of paradise" is not what it seems.  Although the townspeople are friendly and act "normal," little cracks in their facades begin to appear.  Ethan has no ID or cell phone and is thwarted whenever he tries to contact his family or his Secret Service boss.  As Ethan continues to drag up more questions than answers, he realizes that he

may never leave this creepy town alive!  Blake Crouch was a fan of the television shows Twin Peaks, Northern Exposure and The X-Files and he wrote Pines in order to create something that made him feel the way Twin Peaks did-- a story about a small town in the middle of nowhere that is beautiful on the outside but with a pitch-black underbelly.  Blake Crouch was born in North Carolina in 1978 and earned his undergraduate degrees in English and Creative Writing from the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill and published his first two novels within five years of graduation.  He has since published eight novels, many novellas and short stories and three novels cowritten with J. A. Konrath, Fully Loaded, Run,  and Stirred.  He currently lives in Durango, Colorado.

Philomena

I like to watch as many Academy Award Nominated films that I can every year, and I was just able to view Philomena, which was nominated for Best Picture, Best Actress, Best Original Score and Best Adapted Screenplay in 2013.  Judi Dench and Steve Coogan star in this wonderful story about Philomena Lee, an Irish mother who conceived a child out of wedlock and unwillingly gave him up for adoption.  Almost fifty years after his birth, Philomena meets Martin

Sixsmith, a former BBC reporter looking for his next big break, With a few clues in hand, they set off on a journey to find Philomena's long lost son---a journey that takes them from the Abbey in Ireland where Philomena lived and had the baby, then to America and back again.  Based on the 2009 book by Sixsmith, The Lost Child of Philomena Lee, the movie is a wonderful story about an unlikely friendship full of humor and warmth.  The movie is rated PG-13 and contains special features such as "A Conversation with Judi Dench," "The Real Philomena Lee," a "Q & A with Steve Coogan," and "Feature Commentary with Steve Coogan and Screenwriter Jeff Pope."  The library has The Lost Child of Philomena Lee in both book and audio format.

Last Vegas

I recently watched a really fun movie that I checked out on DVD from the library.  Last Vegas stars Michael Douglas, Robert DeNiro, Morgan Freeman and Kevin Kline.  Best friends since childhood, the four "older gentlemen" decide to fly to Las Vegas to celebrate Billy's (Michael Douglas') marriage to his long-time, 32-year-old girlfriend.  Billy is the group's sworn bachelor and the group promises to stop acting their ages and relive their glory days in Vegas before the big wedding.  When they arrive, they realize that the decades have changed them and Sin City and they test the boundaries of their friendship as they take Vegas by storm.  The movie is a hilarious exploration of life and what it means to grow old gracefully.  The movie is rated PG-13  and contains special features such as filmmaker commentary and stories about "The Flatbush Four."

Fizz! Boom! Read!

It's almost time for the start of our Summer Library Program.  This year's theme is science based and called 'Fizz! Boom! Read!'.  Each week will be dedicated to a different topic like colors, weather, oceans and our five senses.  The weekly Storytimes (Tuesdays and Wednesday at 10:30 am) will reflect the theme of the week as will the craft projects.

Registration for the Summer Library Program will begin on Monday, June 2 and end on Friday, June 20.  Ages from preschool through 12th grade are welcome to participate.  Participants will be placed in one of three categories : Preschool, School-age (Kindergarten - 5th grade) or Teen (6th - 12th grade).  Even if your child can't read on their own yet, take part with the 'Read-To-Me' program.

Each child will set his/her own reading goals.  We recommend that the goal be set low enough for the child to realistically reach while leaving time for other summertime activities.

The last day to report on books that have been read is Friday, July 11 and the closing celebration for all participants who meet their reading goals will be on Wednesday, July 16.

Have a happy summer of discovery!

"Death of a Policeman"

     This latest installment of the Hamish Macbeth series by author M.C. Beaton finds our intrepid police sergeant at odds with his superiors. Hamish Macbeth has managed to keep his little station at Lochdubh open so far, but if Chief Inspector Blair has his way, Macbeth and the station will go the way of the dodo. Blair insists that Macbeth does nothing important on his beat, but the people of the small communities surrounding his station rely on him to settle disputes, look in on those who have no one, and to generally put up with all manner of nonsense from the locals. Blair has decided to send policeman Cyril Sessions to spy on Macbeth and gather as much evidence as he can to shut down the Lochdubh station. However, Macbeth is onto Cyril's game almost from the moment he arrives and he is having none of Cyril's nonsense. The only trouble is that Cyril is murdered while following Macbeth in the countryside. At first, it looks like Cyril is killed by a criminal drug ring operating in the highlands. Even while trying to solve Cyril's murder, Macbeth must try to save his station, deal with his lovesick policeman Dick, and his own pitiful attempts at romance.

    The author, Beaton, excels at her descriptions of the Scottish Highlands as well as the myriad of colorful local characters she uses to populate her books. While the ending is a bit of an out-of-nowhere twist, the last part of the book does seem a little hurried. Some may say that this series is getting a little tired, but fans of the series will not be disappointed. I thoroughly enjoyed this book for what it is: a fun, cozy mystery and an easy read.

Share a Meal with Anne Burrell

If you are a food network fanatic like me, you will be happy to learn that the library has a copy of Anne Burrell's newest book, Own Your Kitchen:  Recipes to Inspire and Empower.  This book is about being in charge when you cook--this includes discovering how flavors work together, creating meals with the ingredients you have in your pantry and also how to feel confident and stress free when you are making meals.  Anne Burrell does these three things by sharing the recipes that she makes at home when she's relaxed and wanting to share

something good with her friends and family.  The 100 recipes in this book have been designed to teach the reader how to be comfortable with essential cooking techniques such as:  making an omelet, butterflying a chicken for an easy roast and how to bake focaccia bread.  She also offers tips, such as items that can be prepared ahead (marinades) or how to coax flavor out of a chicken by using a garlic rubdown.  The book contains seasonal as well as everyday recipes and ways to bounce back after you make a mistake.  Anne Burrell is the New York Times best selling author of Cook Like a Rock Star, and the host for many years of Food Network's Secrets of a Restaurant Chef.  She is co-host of Worst Cooks in America and host of Chef Wanted with Anne Burrell.  She is a graduate of the Culinary Institute of America, worked at Lidia Bastianich's Felidia and Peter Hoffman's Savoy and taught at the Institute of Culinary Education.  She currently lives in New York City.

Tales of the D'Artigo Sisters

By some interesting twist of fate, I just read two Yasmine Galenorn novels at the same time:  Shaded Vision and Crimson Veil.  Both are novels in the "Otherworld" series, and Shaded Vision comes in the series before Crimson Veil.  I listened to Crimson Veil in audio book form and read Shaded Vision in book form.  The narrator of Crimson Veil is Cassandra Campbell and she did a wonderful job with bringing the characters of the story alive.  The D'Artigo sisters are three half-Fae, half-human ex-operatives for the Otherworld Intelligence Agency.  Camille is a witch, Delilah is a werecat and Menolly is an acrobat turned vampire. The sisters have been charged with finding seven spirit seals and keeping them away from a demon lord.  In Shaded Vision, the sisters are trying to find an arsonist who keeps bombing supernatural businesses such as the Supe Community Council and several vampire bars.  In Crimson Veil, the sisters are trying to stop Lowestar Radcliff (the demon in charge of a supernatural corporate power grab) from awakening Suvika, the lord of vice.  Both stories are full of complex characters and it is enjoyable reading (and listening to) how they interact with each other.  The novels are wonderful paranormal stories with romance and fantastical creatures thrown in the mix.  I do suggest you read the books in order as the events of each book build upon each other.