December New Popular Books

The following new books have been added this month to the Popular Reading Collection located next to the circulation desk.   These books and any other titles currently checked out can be placed on hold.
See a staff member at the circulation desk for assistance.

 

Toxic Bachelors, by Danielle Steel
First Impressions, by Jude Deveraux
A Grave Mistake, by Stella Cameron
The Known World, by Edward P. Jones
There's Something About Christmas, by Debbie Macomber
Mary, Mary, by James Patterson


This Month's Great Escapes
by Bill McCleary



Until I Find You, by John Irving

This is the story of Jack Burns, and the mixed up life he leads from his birth through his forties.  When Jack is born, his father, William, abandons him and his mother, Alice.  William and Alice weren’t married but Alice is devastated by William’s disappearance.  When Jack is four, she learns that William is in Europe and she sets out with Jack to find him.  Alice is a tattoo artist, having learned the trade from her father, and she and Jack hopscotch around Europe, settling for brief periods in different cities where William is rumored to be.  While they search for William, Alice plies her trade to earn enough money to continue her search.  Jack, meanwhile, is introduced to a myriad of colorful characters who inhabit the tattoo world.  Alice always seems to be one step behind William and eventually she abandons her search and she and Jack end up in Toronto—where Jack starts his education at a mostly girls private school and meets several key people who will help determine the course of his life.  Both Jack and Alice, however, can never really let go of the elusive William.  As I read the book, the older Jack got in the novel the less I liked him but, fortunately, there are some unforgettable women in Jack’s life and they make Irving’s latest an enjoyable read. 


Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, by J. K. Rowling

As Harry Potter and his close friends Ron and Hermione start their sixth year at Hogwarts, the school for wizards, it’s a dark period in their magical world.  The war against the evil Lord Voldemort and his powerful forces is not going well and a victory is far from certain.  Lord Dumbledore, the head of Hogwarts, is increasingly absent from the school and heavily involved in the war.  However, when he is at the school he has decided to personally teach Harry. Their subject?  The history of Lord Voldemort—and what an interesting and fascinating subject it is as they time travel through memories to key events in their subject’s early life that will contribute to his evil transformation.   Although times are tough and the future is uncertain, these are teenagers after all and there is still time for some fun now and then—and budding love.  This penultimate novel in Rowland’s wonderful series was very entertaining and sets up what is sure to be a spectacular finish.


4th of July, by James Patterson and Maxine Paetro

The Women’s Murder Club meets again in this latest Patterson novel.  Charter member Lindsay Boxer, a San Francisco police detective, is haunted by a murder she worked as a rookie and never solved.  Now, some ten years later, she is confronted by a new murder with disturbing similarities to her earlier case.  While meeting with the club at a bar, Lindsey is called out to participate in an arrest of likely suspects in the recent murder.  The suspects turn out to be teenagers—who crash their car in a high-speed chase.  When Lindsay and her partner attempt to rescue the teens, the teens both pull guns and Lindsay and her partner are wounded.  Lindsay manages to save her partner and herself by shooting the teens before she loses consciousness; one dies and the other is paralyzed.  Of course, for her heroic actions she is promptly sued by the parents of the teens.  Placed on administrative leave, Lindsay retreats to the beach house of her sister in Half Moon Bay—where more murders similar to her long ago case are also occurring.  Want to bet that Lindsay—and her Murder Club—will get involved?  This novel starts well but, like so many Patterson books of late, the plotting gets sloppy and it finishes weakly. 


Fiddlers, by Ed McBain

A few months ago, Ed McBain lost a long battle with cancer.  The world lost maybe the premier author of the police procedure novel.  And, I lost one of my very favorite writers.  It’s sad that this will probably be my last review of an Ed McBain novel.  It’s fitting that the last book is an 87th Precinct story.  Over the years, Mr. McBain wrote several other series and many other novels but he will be forever remembered for the men, women, and stories of the 87th Precinct.  Appropriate to the title, the story begins with the murder of a violinist—a blind violinist at that.  Seemingly someone with no enemies, the fiddler is gunned down in an alley while he’s taking a smoke break.  (Yet another reason to quit smoking!)  Detectives Carella and Meyer get the call and begin what looks to be a difficult case to crack.  Then, more murders occur—all done with the same Glock handgun but with no apparent links.  With so many murders to investigate, most of the 87th Precinct gets involved--and Ollie Weeks as well.  It’s a delight to follow our old friends around one last time as they try to close the case, while also dealing with their always interesting personal lives.  Don’t miss this last book by McBain, the master storyteller right until the end.






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Revised Dec.1, 2005

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