Yes, we work with books.  But we also love reading them!  Here are the books we've been reading recently, and what we have to say about them (last updated: January 20, 2012 ). The book summaries are taken from our catalog. Also, check out the archives for even more staff picks.

• The Yellow House by Patricia Falvey
  

  Mia says:"This book is for adults but has many of the elements popular in Young Adult fiction: a fiery heroine able to hold her own and two men from different walks of life that she can't help but love. Irish history and politics are weaved together with well written characters for a story you won't want to end."

  Summary:The Yellow House delves into the passion and po read more ...
  
  

  Mia says:"This book is for adults but has many of the elements popular in Young Adult fiction: a fiery heroine able to hold her own and two men from different walks of life that she can't help but love. Irish history and politics are weaved together with well written characters for a story you won't want to end."

  Summary:The Yellow House delves into the passion and politics of Northern Ireland at the beginning of the 20th Century. Eileen O'Neill's family is torn apart by religious intolerance and secrets from the past. Determined to reclaim her ancestral home and reunite her family, Eileen begins working at the local mill, saving her money and holding fast to her dream. As war is declared on a local and global scale, Eileen cannot separate the politics from the very personal impact the conflict has had on her own life. She is soon torn between two men, each drawing her to one extreme. One is a charismatic and passionate political activist determined to win Irish independence from Great Britain at any cost, who appeals to her warrior's soul. The other is the wealthy and handsome black sheep of the pacifist family who owns the mill where she works, and whose persistent attention becomes impossible for her to ignore.

   read less ...
  
  
• The French Cat by Rachael Hale
  

  Davis M. says: "You don't have to be a cat lover or francophile to be enchanted by this book."

  Summary: "One of the most successful animal photographers in the world today, Rachael McKenna (née Hale) turns her lens toward France--her newly adopted home--and the charismatic cats that inhabit this picturesque backdrop. The result is The French Cat , a stunnin read more ...
  
  

  Davis M. says: "You don't have to be a cat lover or francophile to be enchanted by this book."

  Summary: "One of the most successful animal photographers in the world today, Rachael McKenna (née Hale) turns her lens toward France--her newly adopted home--and the charismatic cats that inhabit this picturesque backdrop. The result is The French Cat , a stunning exploration of the country and its felines. Remarkable French landscapes, both urban and rural, are populated with cats brimming with personality--whether languidly strolling in a quaint village or regally perched on the doorstep of an elegant château. Rachael also tells the story of her new life in France with her husband and new baby in tow. This heartwarming narrative--along with engaging quotes from famous French cat lovers and literary greats--accompanies the images, making the eclectic and lushly illustrated record of Rachael's journey an all-around delight for Francophiles and cat lovers alike."

   read less ...
  
  
• Last Night at Twisted River by John Irving
  

  Mary H. says: "I am a fan of Irving."

  Summary: In 1954, in the cookhouse of a logging and sawmill settlement in northern New Hampshire, an anxious twelve-year-old boy mistakes the local constable's girlfriend for a bear. Both the twelve-year-old and his father become fugitives, forced to run from Coos County—to Boston, to southern Vermo read more ...
  
  

  Mary H. says: "I am a fan of Irving."

  Summary: In 1954, in the cookhouse of a logging and sawmill settlement in northern New Hampshire, an anxious twelve-year-old boy mistakes the local constable's girlfriend for a bear. Both the twelve-year-old and his father become fugitives, forced to run from Coos County—to Boston, to southern Vermont, to Toronto—pursued by the implacable constable. Their lone protector is a fiercely libertarian logger, once a river driver, who befriends them. In a story spanning five decades, Last Night in Twisted River—John Irving's twelfth novel—depicts the recent half-century in the United States as "a living replica of Coos County, where lethal hatreds were generally permitted to run their course." From the novel's taut opening sentence—"The young Canadian, who could not have been more than fifteen, had hesitated too long"—to its elegiac final chapter, Last Night in Twisted River is written with the historical authenticity and emotional authority of The Cider House Rules and A Prayer for Owen Meany. It is also as violent and disturbing a story as John Irving's breakthrough bestseller, The World According to Garp. What further distinguishes Last Night in Twisted River is the author's unmistakable voice—the inimitable voice of an accomplished storyteller. Near the end of this moving novel, John Irving writes: "We don't always have a choice how we get to know one another. Sometimes, people fall into our lives cleanly—as if out of the sky, or as if there were a direct flight from Heaven to Earth—the same sudden way we lose people, who once seemed they would always be part of our lives."

   read less ...
  
  
• Altered Carbon by Richard K. Morgan
  

  Jesse M. says: "This is one of the best books I had the pleasure of reading this past year, and I read some insanely good books in 2011, so that is high praise.  Gritty cyberpunk meets sci-fi murder mystery, with a dash of conflict theory and some excell read more ...
  
  

  Jesse M. says: "This is one of the best books I had the pleasure of reading this past year, and I read some insanely good books in 2011, so that is high praise.  Gritty cyberpunk meets sci-fi murder mystery, with a dash of conflict theory and some excellent quotations.  Check it out!"

  Summary: In the twenty-fifth century, humankind has spread throughout the galaxy, monitored by the watchful eye of the U.N. While divisions in race, religion, and class still exist, advances in technology have redefined life itself. Now, assuming one can afford the expensive procedure, a person's consciousness can be stored in a cortical stack at the base of the brain and easily downloaded into a new body (or "sleeve") making death nothing more than a minor blip on a screen. Ex-U.N. envoy Takeshi Kovacs has been killed before, but his last death was particularly painful. Dispatched one hundred eighty light-years from home, re-sleeved into a body in Bay City (formerly San Francisco, now with a rusted, dilapidated Golden Gate Bridge), Kovacs is thrown into the dark heart of a shady, far-reaching conspiracy that is vicious even by the standards of a society that treats "existence" as something that can be bought and sold. For Kovacs, the shell that blew a hole in his chest was only the beginning. . . . From the Trade Paperback edition.

   read less ...
  
  
• The Forgotten Garden by Kate Morton
  

  Lee T. says: "An unusual story of three women—different times, but all related."

  Summary: From the internationally bestselling author of The House at Riverton, an unforgettable new novel that transports the reader from the back alleys of poverty of pre-World War I Lo read more ...
  
  

  Lee T. says: "An unusual story of three women—different times, but all related."

  Summary: From the internationally bestselling author of The House at Riverton, an unforgettable new novel that transports the reader from the back alleys of poverty of pre-World War I London to the shores of colonial Australia where so many made a fresh start, and back to the windswept coast of Cornwall, England, past and present. A tiny girl is abandoned on a ship headed for Australia in 1913. She arrives completely alone with nothing but a small suitcase containing a few clothes and a single book—a beautiful volume of fairy tales. She is taken in by the dockmaster and his wife and raised as their own. On her twenty-first birthday they tell her the truth, and with her sense of self shattered and with very little to go on, "Nell" sets out on a journey to England to try to trace her story, to find her real identity. Her quest leads her to Blackhurst Manor on the Cornish coast and the secrets of the doomed Mountrachet family. But it is not until her granddaughter, Cassandra, takes up the search after Nell's death that all the pieces of the puzzle are assembled. At Cliff Cottage, on the grounds of Blackhurst Manor, Cassandra discovers the forgotten garden of the book's title and is able to unlock the secrets of the beautiful book of fairy tales. This is a novel of outer and inner journeys and an homage to the power of storytelling. The Forgotten Garden is filled with unforgettable characters who weave their way through its spellbinding plot to astounding effect. Morton's novels are #1 bestsellers in England and Australia and are published in more than twenty languages. Her first novel, The House at Riverton, was a New York Times bestseller.

   read less ...
  
  
• In the Land of Invented Languages: Esperanto rock stars, Klingon poets, Loglan lovers, and the mad dreamers who tried to build a perfect language by Arika Okrent
  

  Jimmy L. says: "This funny, thought-provoking, and empathetic book explores the weird world of language inventors throughout history and what drove them. I've rarely been this entertained while learning so much."

  Summary: Just about everyone has heard of Esperanto, which was nothing less than one man's attempt to bring about worl read more ...
  
  

  Jimmy L. says: "This funny, thought-provoking, and empathetic book explores the weird world of language inventors throughout history and what drove them. I've rarely been this entertained while learning so much."

  Summary: Just about everyone has heard of Esperanto, which was nothing less than one man's attempt to bring about world peace by means of linguistic solidarity. And every Star Trek fan knows about Klingon, which was nothing more than a television show's attempt to create a tough-sounding language befitting a warrior race with ridged foreheads. But few people have heard of Babm, Blissymbolics, and the nearly nine hundred other invented languages that represent the hard work, high hopes, and full-blown delusions of so many misguided souls over the centuries. In In The Land of Invented Languages, author Arika Okrent tells the fascinating and highly entertaining history of man's enduring quest to build a better language. Peopled with charming eccentrics and exasperating megalomaniacs, the land of invented languages is a place where you can recite the Lord's Prayer in John Wilkins's Philosophical Language, say your wedding vows in Loglan, and read Alice's Adventures in Wonderland in Lojban. A truly original new addition to the booming category of language books, In The Land of Invented Languages will be a must-have on the shelves of all word freaks, grammar geeks, and plain old language lovers.

   read less ...
  
  
• The Reading Promise: My Father and the Books We Shared by Alice Ozma
  

  Ken M. says: "This engaging book shares a young reader's unique experience of books, which her father read aloud to her over the course of many years. The ending carries a powerful message for all who love reading."

  Summary: When Alice Ozma was in 4th grade, she and her father deci read more ...
  
  

  Ken M. says: "This engaging book shares a young reader's unique experience of books, which her father read aloud to her over the course of many years. The ending carries a powerful message for all who love reading."

  Summary: When Alice Ozma was in 4th grade, she and her father decided to see if he could read aloud to her for 100 consecutive nights. On the hundredth night, they shared pancakes to celebrate, but it soon became evident that neither wanted to let go of their storytelling ritual. So they decided to continue what they called "The Streak." Alice's father read aloud to her every night without fail until the day she left for college. Alice approaches her book as a series of vignettes about her relationship with her father and the life lessons learned from the books he read to her. Books included in the Streak were:Great Expectations by Charles Dickens, the Oz books by L. Frank Baum, Harry Potter by J. K. Rowling, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll, and Shakespeare's plays.

   read less ...
  
  
• Sarah's Key by Tatiana de Rosnay
  

  Janet F. says: "This is the moving story of the powerful impact of events during the Holocaust on a young Jewish girl and on another, non-Jewish family drawn into those events. Sixty years later, the rippling effects aren't just life-changing, but empowering as well for those affected."

  Summary: Paris, July 1942: Sarah, a ten-year-ol read more ...
  
  

  Janet F. says: "This is the moving story of the powerful impact of events during the Holocaust on a young Jewish girl and on another, non-Jewish family drawn into those events. Sixty years later, the rippling effects aren't just life-changing, but empowering as well for those affected."

  Summary: Paris, July 1942: Sarah, a ten-year-old girl, is brutally arrested with her family by the French police in the Vel' d'Hiv' roundup, but not before she locks her younger brother in a cupboard in the family's apartment, thinking that she will be back within a few hours. Paris, May 2002: On Vel' d'Hiv's 60th anniversary, journalist Julia Jarmond is asked to write an article about this black day in France's past. Through her contemporary investigation, she stumbles onto a trail of long-hidden family secrets that connect her to Sarah. Julia finds herself compelled to retrace the girl's ordeal, from that terrible term in the Vel d'Hiv', to the camps, and beyond. As she probes into Sarah's past, she begins to question her own place in France, and to reevaluate her marriage and her life. Tatiana de Rosnay offers us a brilliantly subtle, compelling portrait of France under occupation and reveals the taboos and silence that surround this painful episode.

   read less ...
  
  
• Forbidden lessons in a Kabul guesthouse : the true story of a woman who risked everything to bring hope to Afghanistan by Suraya Sadeed
  

  Ev says: "Suraya Sadeed is a true inspiration, and this book tells her amazing story."

  Summary: Set amidst some of the most inhospitable conditions in war-torn, Taliban-seized  read more ...
  
  

  Ev says: "Suraya Sadeed is a true inspiration, and this book tells her amazing story."

  Summary: Set amidst some of the most inhospitable conditions in war-torn, Taliban-seized Afghanistan, Forbidden Lessons in a Kabul Guesthouse is an adventure story with heart that tells Sadeed's inspiring fight to bring aid, education, and peace training to Afghan citizens.

   read less ...
  
  
• The Book of Basketball: The NBA According to the Sports Guy by Bill Simmons
  

  Gabriel L. says: "If you're lamenting the lockout and need your hoops fix, ESPN's Bill Simmons's well-researched, comprehensive, witty analysis of the NBA will get you through a rough winter of depressing news stories, enhance your basketball knowledge and keep you laughing."

  Summary: There is only one writer on the planet wh read more ...
  
  

  Gabriel L. says: "If you're lamenting the lockout and need your hoops fix, ESPN's Bill Simmons's well-researched, comprehensive, witty analysis of the NBA will get you through a rough winter of depressing news stories, enhance your basketball knowledge and keep you laughing."

  Summary: There is only one writer on the planet who possesses enough basketball knowledge and passion to write the definitive book on the NBA. Bill Simmons, the from-the-womb hoops addict known to millions as ESPN.com's Sports Guy, is that writer. And The Book of Basketball is that book. Nowhere in the roundball universe will you find another single volume that covers as much in such depth as this wildly opinionated and thoroughly entertaining look at the past, present, and future of pro basketball. From the age-old question of who actually won the rivalry between Bill Russell and Wilt Chamberlain to the one about which team was truly the best of all time, Simmons opens-- and then closes, once and for all-- every major pro basketball debate. Then he takes it further by completely reevaluating not only how NBA Hall of Fame inductees should be chosen but how the institution must be reshaped from the ground up, the result being the Pyramid: Simmons's one-of-a-kind, five-level shrine to the ninety-six greatest players in the history of pro basketball. And ultimately he takes fans to the heart of it all, as he uses a conversation with one NBA great to uncover that coveted thing: The Secret of Basketball. Comprehensive, authoritative, controversial, hilarious, and impossible to put down (even for Celtic-haters), The Book of Basketball offers every hardwood fan a courtside seat beside the game's finest, funniest, and fiercest chronicler. More to the point, he's the only one crazy enough to try to pull it off. From the Hardcover edition.

   read less ...
  
  
• The Little Friend by Donna Tartt
  

  Vivian A. says:"Loved it. She totally pegged small town Southern life. It's 550 pages but I was sad when it was over."
  
  Summary: The hugely anticipated new novel by the author of The Secret History--a best-seller nationwide and around the world, and one of the most astonishing debuts in recent times--The Little Friend is even more transfixing  read more ...
  
  

  Vivian A. says:"Loved it. She totally pegged small town Southern life. It's 550 pages but I was sad when it was over."
  
  Summary: The hugely anticipated new novel by the author of The Secret History--a best-seller nationwide and around the world, and one of the most astonishing debuts in recent times--The Little Friend is even more transfixing and resonant. In a small Mississippi town, Harriet Cleve Dusfresnes grows up in the shadow of her brother, who--when she was only a baby--was found hanging dead from a black-tupelo tree in their yard. His killer was never identified, nor has his family, in the years since, recovered from the tragedy. For Harriet, who has grown up largely unsupervised, in a world of her own imagination, her brother is a link to a glorious past she has only heard stories about or glimpsed in photograph albums. Fiercely determined, precocious far beyond her twelve years, and steeped in the adventurous literature of Stevenson, Kipling, and Conan Doyle, she resolves, one summer, to solve the murder and exact her revenge. Harriet's sole ally in this quest, her friend Hely, is devoted to her, but what they soon encounter has nothing to do with child's play: it is dark, adult, and all too menacing. A revelation of familial longing and sorrow, The Little Friend explores crime and punishment, as well as the hidden complications and consequences that hinder the pursuit of truth and justice. A novel of breathtaking ambition and power, it is rich in moral paradox, insights into human frailty, and storytelling brilliance.

   read less ...