These are festive times, Beloved Patrons…whether you observe Christmas, Hannukah, Pancha Ganapati, Yalda, or any of the myriad other celebrations taking place this month, we sincerely hope they are happy ones.

Me, personally?  I tend to get pretty excited about Hogswatch, which Terry Pratchett recorded in his Discworld novels (for those of you who haven’t yet read these glorious books, Hogswatch is a creepier version of Christmas, with a rather skeletal figure being pulled by a bunch of wild hogs.  The celebration of the festival began when a kind king was passing a cottage and heard 3 sisters weeping because they had nothing to eat. The king took pity and threw a bag of sausages at them…and knocked one out, but no one minded terribly).

Riot Most Uncouth:  I have to say, if there is one historical character that I would not have posited as the hero of detective novel, Lord Byron would have been very near the top of the list.  But Daniel Friedman (author of the award-winning Don’t Ever Get Old) seems to have embraced all the wild eccentricities of his larger-than-life protagonist, and concocted a mystery that has been earned a number of rave reviews.  The story itself is set in 1807, when Byron was a “student” at Trinity College, Cambridge (and by “student”, I mean drinking all day, seducing the wives of his professors, and parading around with his pet bear), and when no regular police force was in place to solve crimes.  So when a young woman is found murdered in a local boarding house, Byron decides to prove his limitless genius by solving the case.  Library Journal cheers, “This intricately plotted and well-researched historical series debut…blends sprightly dialog and compelling, well-drawn characters for a pleasurable read that is sure to enthrall English lit majors as well as readers who enjoy the Regency mysteries of Kate Ross and Rosemary Stevens.”

Tall, Dark, and Wicked: The second book in Madeline Hunter’s Wicked Trilogy breaks with a number of traditions in historic romances–and honestly, seems to be all the better for it.  Her hero, though the son of a duke, is also a skilled prosecutor, who finds his whole life changed by the daughter of the man he is charged with sending to the gallows.  Her heroine is fiercely independent, surprisingly tall (yay!) and fiercely clever, particularly when she realizes that the one man she thought would fight to save her father’s life turns out to be the prosecutor in his case.  Their battle of wits is an impressive one, and, as Booklist gleefully notes, “Hunter’s effortlessly elegant writing exudes a wicked sense of wit, her characterization is superbly subtle, and the sexual chemistry she cooks up between her deliciously independent heroine and delightfully sexy hero is pure passion.”

The Dead Duke, His Secret Wife, and the Missing Corpse: An Extraordinary Edwardian Case of Deception and Intrigue: With a title like that, there might not be much more to say about Piu Marie Eatwell’s historic true crime book–but we’ll certainly try.  In 1898, an elderly widow, Anna Maria Druce, publicly claimed that the merchant T. C. Druce, her late father-in-law, had actually been the ridiculously wealthy 5th Duke of Portland, and that he had faked his death.  She demanded that his tomb be opened to prove the reality of his identity.  Eatwell’s narrative touches not only on this bizarre case, but also the sensational newspapers of the time, that blew the story up into a national scandal, and takes us on a tour of the chillingly fascinating cemeteries of London, to probe the secrets of Druce and his family’s secrets.  This book is one of Library Journal’s Fall Picks, and they remark that it’s “Downton Abbey meets The Addams Family…a delightfully offbeat history of a bizarre Edwardian legal case that…reads like a Wilkie Collins gothic novel, but at times truth is stranger than fiction.”

Blood Salt Water: Denise Mina’s fifth mystery featuring the fascinating DI Alex Morrow begins with a wealthy, fiery, and beautiful Spanish businesswoman who vanishes from her Glasgow home without a trace.  Assigned to the case, Morrow can’t help but be fascinated by the traces left behind of the complex Roxanna Fuentecilla.  But when she traces Fuentecilla to the sleepy seaside village of Helensburgh, she finds her case growing ever more complex.  With plenty of secrets hidden behind picturesque facades, bands of gangsters and bullies, Alex Morrow quickly realizes that this case is far bigger than one missing person–and that the chance to crack the case is quickly slipping away….The Washington Post tantalizingly said of this installment, “An atmospheric, chilling thriller…The power of Mina’s writing is such that she can transport readers from placidity to violent pandemonium in the space of a paragraph.”

Drawing Blood: Underground journalist, artist, muse, and activist, Molly Crabapple had a front-row seat to the decadence and hubris of New York in 2008, and to the financial collapse that resulted, and uses her own experience as a springboard to capture snapshots of a changing world–from the Occupy Wall Street movement to Guantanamo Bay, from her own drawings to the mass movements that changed the world.  This is a book that is both personal and enormously significant, and offers a fascinating, and wonderfully unique perspective on the world around us all.  Booklist  hailed this work “Jaw dropping, awe inspiring, and not afraid to shock, Crabapple is a punk Joan Didion, a young Patti Smith with paint on her hands, a twenty-first century Sylvia Plath. There’s no one else like her; prepare to be blown away by both the words and pictures.”

“There are such a lot of things that have no place in summer and autumn and spring. Everything that’s a little shy and a little rum. Some kinds of night animals and people that don’t fit in with others and that nobody really believes in. They keep out of the way all the year. And then when everything’s quiet and white and the nights are long and most people are asleep—then they appear.”
― Tove Jansson, Moominland Midwinter

Happy Friday, beloved patrons!  It is the end of the school semester for some, and a ridiculously lovely winter weekend for many, so we shall err on the side of brevity today.  Some of us, who see cold and snow as nature’s invitation to stay home and read in our pajamas are deeply offended by this weather, but we shall, no doubt, have our snow days soon enough.  In any event, I wish you a safe and pleasant weekend, and good reading, whether you’re cozy inside, or in defiant short sleeves outside!  Here are some of the new books that have made their way to our shelves for your browsing pleasure:

Conquerors : How Portugal Forged the First Global Empire: Roger Crowley has made his career telling big, sweeping histories of seafaring empires, and post-Crusades encounters of East-meeting-West.  This newest release focuses on the small country of Portugal that, for a time, ruled the largest empire on earth.  Using eyewitness accounts and personal papers, Crowley describes some of the gutsy, clever navigators who brought Portuguese ships farther than any other, and brought back spices and tales of far-flung adventures.  This is no triumphant tale–at least not entirely.  Crowley also deals with the brutality of these adventurers towards the natives they encountered, and the destruction they wrought on the hunt for mythical treasures.

Perchance to Dream : Selected Stories: Charles Beaumont may have made his name writing scripts for The Twilight Zone, but his imagination was simply too big, and his storytelling instinct too strong to stay bound by one form of writing.  These stories are a giant mish-mash of genres, from straight science fiction to horror, to noir-ish tales of suspense and weird pulp magazine thrillers.  Robots and aliens creep across the page beside lions and even the Devil himself, offering what may be the most comprehensive “escape read” to hit the shelves this season (and the cover is like a fever-dream in and of itself!).  NPR raved about this collection, saying “Twist endings get a bad rap in our oh-so-sophisticated millennium, but in Perchance to Dream, they’re in the hands of a master…Throughout the book, Beaumont challenges perception, norms, and our smug reliance on appearances, using supernatural and science-fictional elements to drive home his points — sometimes gently, sometimes jarringly…[Beaumont’s] imagination, as Perchance to Dream amply shows, was more than most writer’s enjoy in the longest of lifetimes.”

City on Fire: Garth Risk Hallberg’s debut is making waves amongst reviewers, publishers, and readers alike.  Set in 1976, this story swirls around a shooting that took place in Central Park, and the tangential connection that a group of people may or may not have to the crime.  Though the mystery itself is enough to keep you on the edge of your seat, the events that occur during the blackout of July 13, 1977, sets this story apart, bringing it into the realm of the unforgettable.  The list of rapturous reviews for this book is considerable, but I’ll leave it to the New York Times to have the last word here: “[In] Hallberg’s XXL tool kit as a storyteller: a love of language and the handsprings he can make it perform; a bone-deep knowledge of his characters’ inner lives that’s as unerring as that of the young Salinger; an instinctive gift for spinning suspense. He also possesses a journalistic eye for those telling details that can trigger memories of the reader’s own like small Proustian grenades . . . A novel of head-snapping ambition and heart-stopping power—a novel that attests to its young author’s boundless and unflagging talents.”

Brown-Eyed Girl: Lisa Kleypas finished off her Travis series with the story of wedding planner Avery Crosslin and the wealthy Joe Travis, whom she mistakenly assumes to be the photographer for her latest project.  Joe is happy to play along, so long as it means spending some more time with Avery, but she is not about to let her guard down, especially when she realizes who he is–and what loving him could mean for her.  Kleypas’ historical romances are the stuff of legends, but her contemporary romances are also highly recommended, with Booklist giving this installment a starred review, and saying, “When it comes to delivering a pair of perfectly matched protagonists whose heart-melting romance is fueled by an abundance of smoldering sexual chemistry, Kleypas is a class by herself, and the conclusion to her Travis Brothers quartet deserves an A+.”

The River Cottage Booze Handbook: John Wright makes the often-intimidating process of home-brewing seem easy in this easy, well-written instructional book.  These tips on home-brewing your own ciders, beers, wines, liqueurs and spirits may help you with your winter projects, and the hangover-cure recipes included in each chapter may very well prove useful afterwards….

God gave us memory so that we might have roses in December.
(James M. Barrie)

Five Things worth being excited about this December:

1) It is apparently National Egg Nog Month

2) And National Fruit Cake Month.  Which isn’t all that surprising.  But here is a picture of a very cute little fruitcake I found…

3) Today (December 4) is National Cookie Day.

4) Library Staff the world over run on cookies.

5) It is also National Read A New Book Month–how convenient!  For new books you can read right now, check out some of our selections below!

Beatlebone: Irish author Kevin Barry delights in pushing the limits of fiction in any and all directions, so the opening of this book seems somewhat tame: John Lennon arrives in Ireland, hoping to find some peace and quiet in the estate he purchased nine years previously.  However, when he finds himself in a cab with a shape-shifting driver, the term “Magical Mystery Tour” takes on a whole new meaning that only Barry himself could invent.  The judges of the Goldsmith Prize, which this book won, said it is  “a novel that takes its reader to the edge—of the Western world, of sanity, of fame, of words…Intricately weaving and blurring fiction and life, Beatlebone embodies beautifully this prize’s spirit of creative risk. We’re proud to crown it our winner.”

American Blood: New Zealand author Ben Sanders’ hero–ex-NYPD officer Marshall Grade–is being compared to Jack Reacher, which is high praise indeed.  In this debut we meet Marshall, who is in hiding after a botched undercover job landed him in the Witness Protection Program in Sante Fe.  Hoping to atone for his mistakes, Marshall begins investigating the disappearance of a local woman–only to find himself caught up in a conspiracy involving human trafficking, drug lords…and the very men who want him dead.  Kirkus has decreed that this is “A fast-moving thriller that leaves a trail of blood and grit across the pages. Great dialogue and a hero who won’t stay hidden make this a winner for crime fans.”

Tasting Wine and Cheese: An Insider’s Guide to Mastering the Principles of Pairing: Whilst walking through Whole Foods today in search of Free Cheese, I thought how nice it would be if I knew how to pair wine and cheese properly.  Also, it would be nice if there were Free Wine to accompany the Free Cheese…However, until that lovely day arrives, there are free books at the Library, like this one, which can teach you all you need to know.  Adam Centamore’s style is based on classes he has taught around the country, including the Boston Wine School, making this book as accessible as it is informative. Tim Bucciarelli author of Formaggio Kitchen raves, “Adam employs the same approach in this book as he does his classes – comprehensive, fun and filled with practical information for anyone interested in the enjoyment of food. The result is a pairing of its own as both a solid primer and a worthwhile reference for your future wine and cheese pairing adventures.”  Let the Cheese Hunting begin!

Unstoppable: I admit to being a child of the early 1990’s, so when Bill Nye and his bowtie speak, I listen.  In this newest release, Nye confronts climate change as a challenge that we as humans are capable of meeting.  With an engineer’s brain and a scientist’s love of discovery, he discusses ways to reduce energy, new inventions that could produce cleaner emissions, and, at the same time, debunks a number of myths and fictions that continue to plague any productive discussions about climate change, energy efficiency, and human agency in the process.  And he makes it all sound cool.  Don’t just take my word for it: the Boston Globe cheers “When he’s not being summoned to act as a voice of reason for news outlets or leading meetings as CEO of the Planetary Society, [Bill Nye] …enlightens readers while using a conversational, educational tone. After all, it’s his ability to break down even the most complicated topics into bite-size pieces that made him such a hit on his ’90s children’s show ‘Bill Nye, the Science Guy’.”

The Girl with Ghost Eyes: M.H. Boroson’s debut historical fantasy novel sounds refreshingly and intriguingly different–set in 1898, in San Francisco’s Chinatown, Boroson introduces us to  Li-lin, the daughter of a renowned Daoshi exorcist, who has the ability (or the burden) of being able to see the spirit world.  When her father is crippled by a sorcerer, it is up to Li-lin to save her family, and all of Chinatown–but how can a girl survive in a male dominated and traditional world?  With courage, martial arts, magic, and the help of a sharp-witted spirit who takes the form of a human eyeball.  Publisher’s Weekly gave this book a starred review, calling it “A brilliant tale of magic, monsters, and kung fu in the San Francisco Chinatown of 1898 . . . smoothly mixes Hong Kong cinema with urban fantasy, and Li-lin is a splendid protagonist whose cleverness and bravura will leave readers eager for her future adventures.”

Happy December, beloved patrons, and happy reading!

I think the above cartoon perfectly sums up my experience of reading (though there are generally more Cthulus in my reading experience, but anyways…).  And for those of you whose heart and brain would like a bit of adventure this weekend, here are five of our newest arrivals to get you started!

The Master of the Prado: Any fans of the film Russian Ark are bound to enjoy this novelized-biography of Spain’s famous Prado Museum.  Art historian and author Javier Sierra’s tale begins when he encounters a mysterious stranger in the museum who promises to reveal to him all the magnificent secrets of the galleries, the artists, and the paintings.  At once an art history lesson, a charming sort of fairy tale of exploration, and a perfect guide for you arm chair tourists, this is the perfect book for a little weekend esacpe-y reading…

The Big Book of Sherlock Holmes Stories: My utter obsession with Sherlock Holmes aside, where else are you going to find stories by Stephen King, Neil Gaiman, and P.G. Wodehouse in one place anywhere else?  By far, one of the highlights of this collection (in my humble opinion) is James M. Barrie’s seldom-discussed “The Adventure of the Two Collaborators”, which Barrie sent as a joke to his buddy Conan Doyle, after a play they had written together turned into the biggest flop of the year on the London stage.  In it, Doyle and Barrie confront the spectre of Holmes in a battle of wits that any Holmes aficionado is bound to appreciate.

Prince of Darkness:  Despite its somewhat histrionic title, Shane White’s new biography brings a fascinating, and woefully overlooked story to light in this biography of Jeremiah G. Hamilton, purportedly the wealthiest man of color in the United States during the nineteenth century.  Despite his obscure beginnings, possibly as a slave, Hamilton spent his life outsmarting a system that was designed to keep him invisible.  He bought shares in railroads which he wasn’t allowed to ride, he attended social functions with people who had never spoken to a non-white person, and, at the height of his wealth, was worth the equivalent of $50 million in today’s currency.  White also tackles the way that history has portrayed Hamilton and his race, offering a fascinating commentary on he ways in which we as a society judge–and color–success.

Soul Machine: The Invention of the Modern Mind: George Makari takes us back to the Enlightenment, just as the Industrial Revolution was gathering steam (hardy har), and as debates over the human mind were flourishing.  The Enlightenment spoke of souls, of an inner spirit that moved people to do, and to think.  But as machines began to change the world at a rapid pace, more people began thinking of the mind like a machine unto itself, with the ability to compute and rationalize and problem-solve.  What, then, made up the mind?  Makari’s study is ostensibly about ideas, but he carefully draws connections between those ideas and resultant changes in art, government, and society, that offers insight into the world that our minds have shaped.

Dark Corners: Ruth Rendell is a establishment in the world of English mysteries, and her prodigious imagination shows no signs of slowing down at all.  In this weird tale of psychological suspense, Carl Martin inherits a house in an increasingly wealthy and hip London neighborhood, which he rents in a desperate attempt to raise some capital.  But when his tenant implicates Carl in a suspicious death, and begins to blackmail him in ever-more creative and disturbing ways, the stage is set for a few shocking twists, and unforeseen betrayals that is sure to get under your skin.  Stephen King has said that “No one surpasses Ruth Rendell when it comes to stories of obsession, instability, and malignant coincidence.”  And, as we all know, if it’s good enough for Stephen King, it’s certainly good enough for me.

Enjoy, beloved patrons!  And have a safe, happy weekend!

Today in The Library began when we couldn’t turn the computers on.  Circulation and Reference Staff alike looked at each other in bewilderment, and began wringing hands and chanting ancient chants in the hopes of dispelling the curse of Friday the 13th.

….

Then we realized that the main power switch had been flipped off.  So we flipped it on and got back to work.

Which got me to wondering…why is it that we fear Friday the 13th so much?  Fans of The DaVinci Code it’s the day that the Knights Templar were put to death by Philip IV of France, but it doesn’t look like anyone figured that out until the 20th century…others say it’s because Jesus was crucified on a Friday the 13th, but since they were using a different calendar at the time, I’m not quite sure how that idea works…some say it’s an old Italian belief, and another theory holds that a 1907 novel called Friday the Thirteenth by a gentleman named Thomas Lawson reinforced the idea for a new generation (the story is about a banker who takes advantage of the superstitious day to start a panic).

Ultimately, this seems to be One Of Those Things that we believe without good reason, but that our belief, ultimately, makes self-fulfilling…see the last book on today’s list for more of this sort of thing.  Better yet, come in and check out all of these books today.  It’s a fact that visiting the Library on a Friday the 13th dispels all bad luck.  At least it is now….

Bazaar of Bad Dreams: Any time Stephen King gets a new book, I will always put it at the top of my list.  This collection of short stories is a bit of a mix of vintage and new stories, with “Ur” at the top of my list.  Back in the day when Kindles were The New Thing that everyone was poking with a bit of trepidation, Stephen King wrote a story “for Kindle only” story (which was really quite novel at the time) about a man who received a pink Kindle, with some pretty interesting extra features….this story has been “extensively re-written”, and I, for one, can’t wait to see what precisely that means…

War of Two: Alexander Hamilton, Aaron Burr, and the Duel that Stunned the Nation: Alexander Hamilton is enjoying quite the renaissance, especially with the release of the new hip-hop musical Hamilton (if you haven’t heard it, go listen right now.  We’ll wait.). John Sedgewick is the many-times-great grandson of Theodore Sedgewick, who was speaker of the house in 1804, and the recipient of Hamilton’s one of Hamilton’s final letters.  While this gives Sedgewick a personal stake in things, which is good, it also makes him a smidgen biased against Burr, which might not make for the most accurate of histories, but it makes for some very, very good reading (while you’re listening to Hamilton!)

Quicksand: Steve Toltz’s first book, A Fraction of the Whole, was short-listed for the Man Booker Prize, and that same mad-cap humor and profound insight is on display in this new release, which features a failed cop and failing writer, Liam, who is basing his newest work on his best friend, Aldo’s spectacular failures in reclaiming his lost love.  Peter Carey, a two-time Man Booker Winner whose word is love and law, says of this book: “The energy, the hairpin turns, the narrative crashes, the stomach churning ascents and trashed taboos: what a joy to surrender oneself to a writer of such prodigious talent.”  And that’s good enough for me.

Numero Zero: I have to be honest, having grown up with The Name of the Rose and Foucault’s Pendulum, when I first heard that this book was a political thriller, I wasn’t sure what to make of it.  However, it would appear that Eco brings the same intellectual depth and creativity to this genre that he brings to any other.  Set in 1992, this story features an editor at a gossip rag who uncovers a plot generations in the making, that sheds new light on a lifetime of political scandals–and puts everyone who knows the truth in very grave danger.  Booklist calls it a “brainy, funny, neatly lacerating thriller…. Eco’s caustically clever, darkly hilarious, dagger-quick tale of lies, crimes, and collusions condemns the shameless corruption and greed undermining journalism and governments everywhere. A satisfyingly scathing indictment brightened by resolute love.”

Science of the Magical: From the Holy Grail to Love Potions to Superpower: A patron referred to Matt Kaplan’s newest book as “a armchair guide to the supernatural”, which seems like a wonderfully appropriate description.  A respected science journalist, who last wrote on monsters, Kaplan explores the rituals, myths, fables and legends that have made their way into our lexicon of beliefs, and what powers they can–and do–hold over us.  Library Journal raves, “Absorbing and intellectually stimulating, this book is a joy to read and is highly recommended.”