June 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.

 

Fresh Disasters, by Stuart Woods
Obsession, by Jonathan Kellerman
The Quilter's Homecoming, by Jennifer Chiaverini
The Blue Zone, by Andrew Gross
The Good Husband of Zebra Drive, by Alexander McCall Smith
The Marriage Game, by Fern Michaels
The Woods, by Harlan Coben
Body Surfing, by Anita Shreve
The River Knows, by Amanda Quick
Simple Genius, by David Baldacci
What's So Funny?, by Donald E. Westlake
Reposition Yourself, by T.D. Jakes
Up in Honey's Room, by Elmore Leonard
The 6th Target, by James Patterson
Invisible Prey, by John Sandford


This Month's Great Escapes
by Bill McCleary  




Thunderstruck, by Erik Larson

Faithful readers know that I seldom read non-fiction.  I make an exception for Erik Larson.  The first book I read by him was The Devil in the White City, a fascinating work with the parallel stories of the making of the Chicago World’s Fair of 1893 and a serial killer on the loose at the same time.  A terrific book.  Thunderstruck also has two parallel stories and it is set in roughly the same time period of Larson’s earlier book.  This time, though, we are mostly in London from the late 1890s until around 1910.  It is a time of invention but also a time when people are fascinated by ghosts, the paranormal, magic, séances, and so on.  Thunderstruck tells the story of two men.  Guglielmo Marconi, still a young man, has landed in London from Italy and he is working to perfect his idea of wireless communication.  Hawley Crippen, an American with some medical and chemical education, has worked at a number of jobs around the United States, mostly selling patent medicines—very popular during this era.  Crippen, a slight, timid, rather homely man, is improbably married to the aptly named, larger than life Belle.  Flirty Belle has visions of being a singing or comedy star but lacks…talent.  She is what we now call ‘high maintenance’ and she lords it over Hawley and spends his money lavishly—sometimes entertaining other men.  Hawley is transferred by his company to the London office and Belle accompanies him to his new assignment—hoping to jump-start her career in entertainment.  Hawley and Belle grow increasingly unhappy with each other but stay together for appearances—at least for awhile.  Meanwhile, Marconi is racing to be the first to build a working wireless that will send messages across the Atlantic.  Their stories intersect when Hawley hits on a solution to his Belle problem.  Another winner for Mr. Larson—his writing reads like the best of fiction but the stories are real, full of interesting information,  and meticulously researched. 


Hide, by Lisa Gardner

In 1982, seven-year-old Annabelle Granger, happily growing up in a Boston suburb, is told by her parents to pack a few of her favorite things.  Before she knows it, she and her parents are on the run and using assumed names.  They land in Florida and her father, who had been a math professor at MIT, ends up driving a cab.  Annabelle’s father tells her that they have moved because her life was in danger from someone stalking her.  For the rest of her childhood, Annabelle and her parents move every few years when her father suspects the stalker has found them.  Now a grown adult and with her parents both dead, Annabelle has returned to Boston on her own to try to make a life for herself.  Her stalker, though, is still lurking.  But, on her side is Bobby Dodge, the state policeman introduced in Gardner’s previous book, Alone.  He’s working with a taskforce trying to solve six serial killings from 1982—did Annabelle narrowly avoid being one of them?  This was a nicely done thriller, an enjoyable sequel of sorts to her previous novel.


Hundred-Dollar Baby, by Robert Parker

One of these days I need to go back and read all the beginning Spenser books that I have missed—I started reading about midway in the series.  Two of the earlier books that I haven’t read featured the character of April Kyle—and she is back again in this latest offering from Parker.  Spenser apparently first rescued April as a young teenage prostitute.  Well, if you can call ‘rescuing’ her setting her up with a New York madam.  At least he got her off the streets—and later came to her aid again when she got involved with an abusive lover.  Now, April is back in Boston and when she walks into Spenser’s office he hardly recognizes her.  She is all grown up and now the madam of her own establishment.  April has come once again for Spenser’s help; thugs are threatening her and her girls.  Spenser, with his sometime-partner Hawk’s help, rousts the thugs but they are just hired help—who’s the mystery person intent on running April out of business?  As always, a Parker novel is a delight to read—I’m glad there are those earlier novels waiting for me. 


Hannibal Rising, by Thomas Harris

Hannibal Lecter is one of the most famous monsters of modern literature.  In three previous Harris novels, as well as the movies derived from the books, we have seen Hannibal as an adult going about his gruesome ways.  But, how did he get that way?  In Hannibal Rising, we first meet Hannibal as an extremely bright and personable eight-year-old child living in Lecter Castle in Eastern Europe with his parents and younger sister, Mischa.  The time is the beginning of World War II and Hitler’s Blitzkrieg is just getting under way.  Hannibal and his family receive word the German army is about to overrun the castle and they have just enough time to throw some supplies into wagons and escape to the family hunting lodge hidden deep in the forest.  At the hunting lodge the family manages to survive and stay safe—at least for awhile.  Then, terrible events happen during the chaos at the end of the war—and poor Hannibal is changed forever.  Mr. Harris has only written five novels in the past thirtysomething years.  He takes his time and it shows.  While Hannibal Rising is not his very best book, it was still a very enjoyable and interesting read.

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Revised May 30, 2007

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