New arrivals for this week include...

Steven Erikson: Toll the Hounds
Peter Feldstein: The Oxford Project
Michael Flynn: The January Dancer
Neta Jackson: Where Do I go?
John Sandford: Phantom Prey (Large Print)
Steve Thayer: The Leper
Jo Walton: Half a Crown

Forthcoming books...not to be missed

I was reading reviews of books online from Library Journal, Amazon and Publisher's Weekly today and thought I would share information on the books that I found most intriguing.

Bernard Cornwell, author of the Sharpe series and the thrilling Anglo Saxon series, has a new book coming out in Januray entitled Agincourt. It is based, of course, on the English victory over the French in 1415. The reviewer felt this book "perfectly captures the spirit of 15th-century France." I can't wait to read this one!

Georgina Harding's novel, The Spy Game, is one I really want to read. It's about two children in 1961 England whose mother dies when they are young and the mysteries they encounter when trying to piece together the mother's life. Was the mother a spy? Can't wait to get a hold of this one!

Also recommended by LJ are Frida's Bed by Slavenka Drakuli and Here at the End of the World We Learn to Dance by Lloyd Jones. The first is a novel about artist Frida Kahlo and the latter a book about Quakers in hiding from military service in New Zealand.

Azar Nafisi, author of Reading Lolita in Tehran, has written another memoir entitled, Things I've Been Silent About: A Memoir. Recommended by Publisher's Weekly, this seems to be a haunting work about the author's terrible home life. I've never read her first memoir, but the Middle Eastern authors that I have read, such as Naguib Mahfouz, write searing novels that are superb works, but at the same time, painful reading for me. Mahfouz's Palace Walk was the only one in his trilogy that I wanted to read. He deservedly won the Nobel Prize for Literature, but his account of an Egyptian family is unforgettable to say the least. I didn't think I could handle the rest of the trilogy. I've been told Reading Lolita is excellent, so I'll probably try to read that soon before embarking Things I've Been Silent About.

As for mysteries, I enjoy Jacqueline Winspear's Maise Dobbs series; they are simply fun reads and have a different take on the genre. Winspear's new book in the series, Among the Mad, comes out in February 2009.

Calling all Andrew McCall Smith fans...

The author has written his "first online novel" on the Daily Telegraph web site. It's called Corduroy Mansions and you can click on this link to read it! Feel free to make suggestions as well.

New arrivals this week...

Thought everyone might be interested to see some of the new books that we received this week...

Glen Beck: The Christmas Sweater
Micahel Cox: The Glass of Time
Jeffrey Deaver: The Bodies Left Behind
Carolly Erickson: The Tsarina's Daughter
Richard Foster: Mark Spitz
Jonathan Kellerman: Bones
Karen Kingsbury: Sunset (large print)
Mercedes Lackey: The Phoenix Endangered
Claire LaZebnik: The Smart One and the Pretty One
David Liss: The Whiskey Rebels
Todd McCaffrey: Dragonheart
Brad Meltzer: The Book of Lies (a second copy)
Randy Owen: Born Country
Andrew Pyper: The Killing Circle
Joyce Tyldesley: Cleopatra

Abraham Lincoln Walks at Midnight by Vachel Lindsay

As nations the world over mark the anniversary of the armistice to end World War I, I thought it would be post a poem written during that time. Most everyone knows of war poems such as McCrae's In Flanders Field and Wilfred Owen's Dulce et Decorum Est. This particular poem speaks of one of America's greatest presidents who served during America's horrendous Civil War and now awakes from his slumber to face turmoil once more. Lindsay was a poet from Springfield, Illinois.

Abraham Lincoln Walks at Midnight---Vachel Lindsay

It is portentous, and a thing of state
That here at midnight, in our little town,
A mourning figure walks, and will not rest,
Near the old courthouse pacing up and down.

Or by his homestead, or in shadowed yards,
He lingers where his children used to play;
Or through the market, on the well-worn stones,
He stalks until the dawn-stars burn away.

A bronzed, lank man! His suit of ancient black,
A famous high-top hat and plain worn shawl
Make him the quaint great figure that men love,
The prairie lawyer, master of us all.

He cannot sleep upon his hillside now,
He is among us: --as in times before!
And we who toss and lie awake for long
Breathe deep, and start, to see him pass the door.

His head is bowed. He thinks on men and kings.
Yea, when the sick world cries, how can he sleep?
Too many peasants fight, they know not why,
Too many homesteads in black terror weep.

The sins of all the war-lords burn his heart.
He sees the dreadnaughts scouring every main.
He carries on his shawl-wrapped shoulders now
The bitterness, the folly, the pain.

He cannot rest until a spirit-dawn
Shall come; --the shining hope of Europe free;
The league of sober folk, the Workers' Earth
Bringing long peace to Cornland, Alp and Sea.

It breaks his heart that kings must murder still,
That his hours of travail here for men
Seem yet in vain. And who will bring white peace
That he may sleep upon his hill again?

From Project Gutenberg and Bartleby.com---
work is in public domain.

I wish I had such power of language. More war poetry from Project Bartleby can be found here: http://www.bartleby.com/266.

Information also from Illinois Historic Preservation Agency

Today we celebrate our veterans and the world remembers...

...the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month ninety years ago when guns finally fell silent after four years of carnage that was World War I. Here is a link to an article from the London Times marking the anniversary.

We in the United States celebrate today as Veterans Day and honor all those men and women who served in our Armed Forces. They deserve our sincere gratitude and thanks for the sacrifices they have made. Click here for more information about Veterans Day. President Bush issued a proclamation for today; click here to read the text.

Info from PBS

Mystery lovers will appreciate this: Kenneth Branagh is coming to PBS in a BBC adaptation of Henning Mankell's Detective Wallander novels. The series is coming in 2009.

Inspector Lewis will also return with four more mysteries!

www.pbs.org/wgbh/masterpiece/mystery/index.html

My current reading

Some books I have recently read and am currently reading:

Conspiracy of Violence: by Susanna Gregory. I've long been a fan of her medieval mystery series, so I thought I would give this a go. Set in Restoration England, the story centers around Thomas Chaloner, alias Heyden, a nearly destitute spy who can't get work due to a vengeful former patron. He receives help from a former spymaster and soon becomes entangled in murder and dangerous politics while searching for hidden gold in the Tower of London. www.susannagregory.co.uk

The Septembers of Shiraz: by Dalia Sofer. A NY Times Notable Book, The Septembers of Shiraz is a good read. The protagonist is a Jewish Iranian, Issac Amin, who one day is snatched by the Revolutionary Guards, having been denounced by an anonymous accuser. His wife frantically tries to find him as he endures the nightmare of an Iranian jail. Set in Iran in the aftermath of the Shah's fall, it is a gripping read and becomes even more so when one learns that this really happened to the author's father.

Snow: By Ohan Parmuk. A Turkish poet living in Germany goes home to investigate a rash of suicides comitted by young girls. I've only started reading this book, but it promises to be a great read. Some Amazon reviewers hated it, but I like it so far. Parmuk won the Nobel prize for literatture in 2006.

Michael Crichton loses battle with cancer....

...at age 66. He penned such best sellers as The Great Train Robbery, The Andromeda Strain, and of course Jurassic Park. This Los Angeles Times blog has an article about Crichton as an art collector and art patron.

Chicago Tribune

Telegraph Obituary

Studs Terkel

Famed author Studs Terkel died yesterday in Chicago. He was 96 years old. His writings include such works as Division Street: America, Working, The Good War, and Hard Times.


Links to obituaries:

Canadian Broadcasting Company

The Guardian

Los Angeles Times

NY Times

Terkel's web site:

Conversations with America

Free audio book of Seth Godin's Tribes

Audible.com is offering a free version of Tribes by Seth Godin, a marketing and business writer.

October suggestions

Pardon me for borrowing what I wrote on WGRL's MySpace blog, but I love these kinds of books so much I wanted to suggest them on my new blog.

Historical novels and nonfiction for October

One may remember that October was the month in which the Battle of Hastings was fought in 1066; this was when Harold Godwinson, the "last of the English kings," was defeated by William, Duke of Normandy. I thought it appropriate to list a few excellent reads for this time period:

Helen Hollick's Harold the King tells the story of Earl Godwinson, through his rise to power, struggles with Edward the Confessor, and his heroic but ultimately tragic end. A Hollow Crown tells the story of the fascinating and formidable Queen Emma, a woman married to both King Cnut and later Edward the Confessor during the period prior to the Conquest. Both are wonderful historical novels and are faithful to actual events. One simply cannot surpass Helen Hollick.

Bernard Cornwell has a thrilling Anglo Saxon series set a bit earlier in time during the years of Alfred the Great in the 900s AD. The titles are: The Last Kingdom, The Pale Horseman, The Lords of the North, and Sword Song.

Good nonfiction includes David Howarth's 1066: the Year of the Conquest. It's a very readable, short book about the fateful year.

Andrew Bridgeford in his work, 1066: The Hidden Tapestry, questions the origins and intent of the Bayeaux Tapestry. Most people assume it was created by the Bishop of Bayeaux, Duke William's brother, as a propoganda tool for the Normans. Bridgeford posits another theory: the tapestry is a work of Anglo Saxon subversion. The author surmises the Anglo-Saxons subtly informed viewers of their own point of view while seemingly telling the story of the Norman conquerors. This isn't a dry history book at all; it's very easy to read and intriguing.

Robert Lacey's short work, The Year 1000, introduces one to the world of the Anglo Saxons prior to the Normans. It's entertaining, very easy to read, and it is what made me want to read more about that era.

Ian Walker finishes my survey; his Harold: the Last Anglo Saxon King, is highly informative and a very good book.

I admit to some bias; one may notice that I have no books listed regarding the Norman point of view. Truthfully, I haven't read much about William other than what I studied in history class years ago. I have read Jean Plaidy's The Bastard King and that was a good novel. I don't equate it to works by Sharon Kay Penman or Helen Hollick, but it is entertaining. I have empathy for the vanquished English; theirs is a fascinating history.

Welcome!

Welcome to the West Georgia Regional Library's blog about books! I have always loved the quote at the top of the page; I remember a college professor for whom I worked having it on a poster on his office door.

I love books and I hope you love them too! The plan for this blog is to be a place to talk about books, both fiction and nonfiction. Feel free to comment at any time!