Swine Not? a Novel Pig Tale
June 28, 2008
No pirates, no Caribbean, and no boats, just a pig in a greenhouse on top of a four-star hotel in New York – how can this be a Jimmy Buffett book?
Only Jimmy could come up with this light-hearted tale of a pig looking for her brother while avoiding capture by an evil chef named “Butcher.” The crazy cast includes a soccer player, a designer, the mayor, a pastry chef, and a flock of pigilante pigeons. It’s a typical Jimmy Buffett crew adrift in Manhattan, floating along with a pig dressed in a dog costume. This is poolside reading at its best for both teens and adults.
- reviewed by Thea, South County Regional, PLCMC
The One Minute Entrepreneur: The Secret to Creating and Sustaining a Successful Business
June 28, 2008
by Blanchard, Ken; Don Husten, and Ethan Willis
The respected author of The One-minute Manager has written another easy-to-read and easy-to-understand book to help inspire the entrepreneurial spirit in its readers. He and his co-authors have us follow a new business entrepreneur (a fictional parable) through preparation, setup, growth, and maintenance of his business. As readers, we get the benefit of this new entrepreneurs experience.
Nothing to Lose: A Jack Reacher Novel
June 28, 2008
In Nothing To Lose, Lee Child’s twelfth Jack Reacher novel, Reacher feels the exact dip in the road between Hope and Despair, Colorado every time he crosses it. Although the two towns are only twelve miles apart, the difference in the soul of each town is as big as the difference between, well. . .hope and despair. When Reacher arrives in Despair, all he wants is a good cup of coffee before he passes on down the road. Unfortunately, the coffee is served with hostility, a vagrancy charge, and a ride out of town. Reacher takes his abusive treatment personally and the adventure begins. He finds an ally in Officer Vaughan of the Hope Police Department. Together, they begin to uncover the many secrets in the company town of Despair. Lee Child presents another explosive chapter in Jack Reacher’s story, Nothing To Lose.
- reviewed by Susan, Independence Regional, PLCMC
Lopsided. How having breast cancer can be really distracting.
June 17, 2008
Designer info to come
It’s impossible not to see the John Gall-designed The Verificationist when you see a cover like this; I don’t know if his design is the first of its kind, or just the most well-known or well-regarded. Regardless: if you bring all-too-familiar universal symbols into your design, you had better bring your A game.
This works so well not just because of the head drifting off to the right, suggesting the “distraction” referred to in the subtitle, but because placing the head there makes this illustration dynamic: she’s looking at her body from the side, evaluating her lopsided breasts. And how the title is set suggests lopsidedness and disconnection, with the word “distraction” run onto a third line.
Dirty Words: A Literary Encyclopedia of Sex
June 17, 2008
Not exactly a strong endorsement of the richness of sex in literature if you have to repeat racy words like “quickies,” is it? But hey, there are always loads of fun words associated with sex now aren’t there??Buy this book from Amazon.com
The Sugar Queen
June 13, 2008
In the perfect blend of sweet imagination and simple southern magic, Sarah Addison Allen has once again entranced readers with her latest, The Sugar Queen. In her feast of deliciously believable characters, we meet three women haunted by the past. The well known Josey Cirrini is living her life in seclusion to make up for her past behavior. The troubled Della Lee Baker is running away from her past and straight into Josey’s closet. Meanwhile, Chloe Finley finds there are some events she would like to put in the past. As the lives of these women weave together, the past is revealed in ways that even they could never have imagined. Sarah Addison Allen has done it again.
- reviewed by Courtney, South County Regional, PLCMC
Upfront and Unscripted with Jeff Bezos
June 13, 2008
In this Upfront and Unscripted session, visionaries Jeff Bezos, Founder and CEO of Amazon.com, and Chris Anderson, Executive Editor of Wired and author of The Long Tail, participate in a one-on-one informal but incisive discussion focused on the evolving impact of Amazon
What Retailers and Librarians Should Know about Video Games and Gamers
June 13, 2008
Jordan Mechner, the creator of Prince of Persia, takes us inside the video game world ? explaining how this fast-growing, often-misunderstood new medium has evolved over the past twenty years, and exploring the connections between video games, books, movies and graphic novels.
Created by Jordan on the Apple II computer 20 years ago, Prince of Persia has become one of the world
A New Earth: Awakening to Your Life’s Purpose by Eckhart Tolle
June 8, 2008
Having Oprah Winfrey say, “Your book is my book club pick” epitomizes a leap in success. It’s certainly the dream of almost every author I know. For one Canadian author it’s a dream come true. Vancouver-based author and spiritual teacher Eckhart Tolle must feel like he’s riding a wave. His book A New Earth: Awakening to Your Life’s Purpose is Oprah’s 61st choice for her book club. Oprah is hugely responsible for Tolle’s earlier rise in fame as she launched his 2005 book The Power of Now, skyrocketing it to a million-copy bestseller.
Tolle’s A New Earth: Awakening to Your Life’s Purpose is a fantastic book for anyone who is looking for some illumination on life. Many of us want to change, yearn to better ourselves or grow to our fullest potential, yet we have no idea HOW to do this, how to find our life’s purpose. We are living on ‘ego’, surrounded by stuff and are unconnected to who we really are inside.
If you are a reader who really thinks about what you’re reading, you’ll find some clarity and direction in this book. I found it to be very uplifting, hopeful, thought-provoking and reaffirming. I think any book that can affect a person’s thoughts or life as Eckhart’s books have done deserves to be read with an open mind and heart. As in The Secret, I found many similarities in the messages in this book and I wish I’d read it years ago. Tolle’s writing is quietly blunt and often lyrical, and always honest, as he sees life.
I recommend this book for older teens, especially those graduating and moving into the work force. It is also great for any adult, especially those looking to make changes in their lives, whether in relationships or careers. In many ways, I found it to be a philosophical study of how to ‘let go’ of old ways of thinking. This is a book about making every minute of your life count for something–being authentic, which reminds me also of Sarah Ban Breathnach’s Something More: Excavating Your Authentic Self.
I am also pleased to see that Oprah has selected another Canadian author. As a Canadian novelist myself, this brings me some hope. After all, I’ve discovered that one of my life’s purposes is to write novels that make people think.
What’s your life’s purpose?
~Cheryl Kaye Tardif,bestselling author of Whale Song, a novel that will change how you view life…and death
Q is for Quarry by Sue Grafton
June 8, 2008
Grafton keeps us on the edge of our seats…and slowly falling.
PI Kinsey Millhone is at it again, this time trying to solve the eighteen-year-old murder of a previous `cold case’–an unidentified female victim.
Teamed ironically with two elderly cops, the ones who had originally found the woman’s body, Kinsey sets out to discover both the identity of the victim and her killer who dumped the body in an old quarry.
Sue Grafton’s 17th suspense novel in the `alphabet series’ is filled with unexpected twists and turns, not to mention infused with Grafton’s wry sense of humor. I loved the quirky relationship between the two old cops, Dolan and Oliphant! Amidst a story of tragic death and horrific murder, they were a great addition and added definite comic relief.
I would have like to see Kinsey’s past delved into a bit more, but Grafton is the Queen of `dangling the carrot’. I’ll be sure to read the next one (although I’m a bit behind in my reading as I’m busy writing my own novels). It’s going to be a sad day when Sue Grafton finally gets to the letter `Z’.
~Cheryl Kaye Tardif
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