Author Visits!

Check out a few of the great authors coming to the Chicagoland area during February:

On February 5th at 7pm at the Warren Newport Public Library in Gurnee, Steve Berry will sign his latest thriller The Charlamagne Pursuit. Berry has had several bestsellers, including The Templar Legacy and The Alexandria Link.

On February 7th at 2pm at the Anderson's Books in Naperville, Susan Elizabeth Phillips will sign her latest romance novel What I Did For Love.

On February 12th at 11:30, the Lake Forest Bookstore will be hosting an English Tea with bestselling author Alison Weir. Weir is well-known for her biographies of the Tudor dynasty, and has recently begun writing historical fiction. Contact the bookstore for pricing and reservations.

On February 17th at noon, the Book Stall will be hosting a lunch in Winnetka with Stephanie Kallos, who will speak about her new novel, Sing Them Home. Contact the Book Stall for pricing and reservations.

John Updike, 1932 - 2009

The prolific writer John Updike died yesterday at the age of 76. Updike is best known for his Rabbit series (Rabbit, Run, Rabbit Redux, Rabbit Is Rich, Rabbit At Rest, and Rabbit Remembered) which chronicled the life of Harry "Rabbit" Angstrom. Updike won the Pulitzer Prize for Rabbit is Rich and Rabbit at Rest. His most recent novel, The Widows of Eastwick, was published in 2008 and is the sequel to The Witches of Eastwick. Updike published more than twenty-five novels and more than a dozen short story collections, as well as poetry, art criticism, literary criticism, non-fiction, essays and children's books.

The Interpretation of Murder

In 1909 Dr. Sigmund Freud made his only visit to the United States. Jed Rubenfeld's novel The Interpretation of Murder supposes that the events that occurred during Dr. Freud's visit explain why he never returned. Just before Freud's arrival in New York, a young socialite is found murdered. Shortly after, an attempt is made on another young socialite, but she is able to escape. The trauma of the attack, however, has caused the young woman to have amnesia. Dr. Stratham Younger, one of Freud's followers, is asked to analyze the young woman in hopes that it will help her regain her memory. This sounds like an interesting plot, but unfortunately Rubenfeld clutters the story with too much focus on Freud's sexual theories, thoughts on the meaning of Hamlet, a side plot involving Carl Jung, and a convoluted resolution. The result is a disjointed story that unfortunately was a disappointment.

Sarah's Key

We've had a rush on Tatiana de Rosnay's novel Sarah's Key lately. It was originally released in 2007, but the recent paperback release in late 2008 must have sparked more interest because we can't keep it on the shelf. I've had this on my to-read list for a while, but since so many of our patrons seem to be reading it (and liking it), I decided to move it to the top of my list. Most of the feedback that I've heard is that this is a novel you can't put down, and I would agree. I was up well past my bedtime because I was so engrossed. The novel alternates between the present and 1942. In Paris in 1942, thousands of Jewish families were rounded up and sent to concentration camps. Sarah's family was one of them. When the police came for Sarah's family in the middle of the night, Sarah hid her little brother in a secret cupboard, thinking she would return shortly. But when she realizes that they will not be returning home soon, she is distraught over her brother. Julia, a journalist, is writing an article commemorating the 16th anniversary of the 1942 roundup. Through her research, she finds that her family has a connection to Sarah, and she becomes obsessed with finding out what happened to Sarah and her brother. This is a great story with short, alternating chapters that keep the plot moving swiftly. The resolution was not what I was expecting, which was refreshing and kept the novel from becoming trite. A great read for fans of historical fiction or those just looking for a good story.

All the latest...

Verizon Wireless will support rivals of Amazon's popular electronic reader, the Kindle, allowing users to download material such as books and newspapers wirelessly from its network. Although Verizon declined to name the company's e-reader partners, they say that competitors are out there and are expected to be on the market in 2009.

The Chicago Underground Library has opened a permanent location at 2129 N. Rockwell St. in the Congress Theater building. The Library's collection focuses on material produced by small presses or independent publishers in the Chicago area. The collection includes zines, comics, perfect-bound novels, chapbooks, newsletters, art books, magazines and pamphlets. The Library is open on Saturdays from 1-5pm.

The Seattle Public Library offers some suggestions for reading resolutions that I think I'm going to incorporate into my own. Some of their resolutions include:

• Reread a book I loved as a child.


• Read a classic from high school that I've been avoiding.


• Read a book of poetry.


• Read a book written in the year I was born.


• Read a play.


• Read a book written by a non-American.

Library Journal has some suggestions for the year's best teen books for adults:

The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation: Vol. 2: The Kingdom on the Waves by M.T. Anderson

What I Saw and How I Lied by Judy Blundell

Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

Bog Child by Shiobhan Dowd

The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman

Eon: Dragoneye Reborn by Alison Goodman

Tender Morsels by Margo Lanagan

Jellicoe Road by Melina Marchetta

Nation by Terry Pratchett

And the winner is...

Borders announced the winners of the 2008 Original Voices award. Steven Galloway's The Cellist of Sarajevo won the fiction award. Eric Weiner's The Geography of Bliss won the nonfiction award.

The 2008 Costa Book Awards were also announced. Sadie Jones's The Outcast won the first novel award. Sebastian Barry's The Secret Scripture won the novel award. Diana Athill's Somewhere Towards the End won the biography award. Adam Foulds's The Broken Word won the poetry award.

The Charles Taylor Prize for Literary Non-Fiction announced its 2009 nominees: Elizabeth Abbott's Sugar: A Bittersweet History, Tim Cook's Shock Troops: Canadians Fighting the Great War, 1917 – 1918, Volume Two, and Ana Siljak's Angel of Vengeance: The "Girl Assassin," the Governor of St. Petersburg and Russia's Revolutionary World.

The Mystery Writers of America announced the nominees for the 2009 Edgar Awards. The nominees for best novel are: Missing by Karin Alvtegen, Blue Heaven by C.J. Box, Sins of the Assassin by Robert Ferrigno, The Price of Blood by Declan Hughes, The Night Following by Morag Joss, and Curse of the Spellmans by Lisa Lutz. You can view the rest of the nominees here.

The nominees for the Dilys Award, given by the Independent Mystery Bookseller's Association, are: Trigger City by Sean Chercover, The Victoria Vanishes by Christopher Fowler, Silent in the Sanctuary by Deanna Raybourn, Child 44 by Tom Rob Smith, and The Dawn Patrol by Don Winslow.

And just to be different, Citizen Reader has announced her picks for the Worst Books of 2008. Included on her list are Thomas Friedman's Hot, Flat and Crowded and Oprah's latest pick, David Wroblewski's The Story of Edgar Sawtelle.

Rubbish!

All the reading I was doing about rats last month got me thinking about garbage. If garbage attracts rats, and rats are a problem, how big of a problem is garbage? I've never thought about it before. The garbage truck comes to my house every week and picks up my trash. I have no idea where it goes, and frankly, I never gave it much thought. So I thought it might be interesting to find out how much trash we produce and what exactly happens to it. It turns out that there are quite a few books on garbage. Elizabeth Royte's Garbage Land: On the Secret Trail of Trash and Heather Rogers's Gone Tomorrow: The Hidden Life of Garbage provide a fascinating, yet scary, account of the history of garbage, the paths our garbage takes, and the issues we face today. These books are chock full of "did-you-knows" that you can use at parties. For example, did you know:

• The average American throws away 4.5 pounds of garbage per person, per day.


• 88% of U.S. products are used once and thrown out.


• 67% of America's household waste stream could be composted.


• The liners that are required for new landfills are only good for about fifty years. And the EPA requires landfill owners to monitor a landfill for only 30 years after its closure.


• Dumps from the Roman Empire are still leaching today.


• The garbage industry in New York was controlled by the Mafia for many years.
  

While both books share much of the same information, Royte's book is a more personal look at garbage. She spends the year analyzing her own trash, following garbage men (and women), and visiting landfills and recycling centers and she infuses much of the book with personal antidotes. Rogers's book sticks to the facts and does a better job of clearly detailing the history of trash and the current issues. Although both books provide more information than most people will ever want to know about garbage, they are interesting and eye-opening. I can't wait to get started composting.