PATRON PICKS--Resting in the Bosom of the Lamb

Kassie's pick:  Resting in the Bosom of the Lamb, by Augusta Trobaugh

Synopsis:

Resting in the Bosom of the Lamb is this gifted author's triumphant second novel. Once again, Augusta Trobaugh works the decadent soil of the American south, and the harvest is rich indeed. This novel tells the story of secrets that lie buried beneath the surface yet continue to wreak havoc in the lives of the Southern women to whom they belong. (Goodreads)

Kassie says:  Completely unexpected.  Honest, gorgeously written.  A mystery and a dream.

PATRON PICKS--The Abstinence Teacher

Liz's pick:  The Abstinence Teacher, by Tom Perrotta

Synopsis:
"Some people enjoy it."

That was all Ruth had said. Even now, when she’d had months to come to terms with the fallout from this remark, she still marveled at the power of those four words, which she’d uttered without premeditation and without any sense of treading on forbidden ground. (p. 11)

Thanks to an off-hand remark made during a class discussion of oral sex, sex-ed teacher Ruth Ramsey finds herself a target of the Christian evangelicals who are increasingly influencing the school board of suburban Stonewood Heights. Forced to attend remedial sessions with a smug “Virginity Consultant,” Ruth is isolated and alone, caught in the polarized red-versus-blue landscape of present-day American suburbia. It’s like “living in a horror movie,” she thinks, “The Invasion of the Body Snatchers, or something. You never knew who they were going to get to next.” Divorced and sharing custody of her daughters with her ex, and sometimes attempting a futile date, Ruth spends many a lonely weekend wondering how her bleak existence came to be.

Then one morning at her daughter’s soccer game, Ruth meets Tim Mason, a cute forty-something volunteer coach. Ruth feels an instant attraction to Tim, but when he draws the girls together for a spontaneous prayer circle after the game, she angrily yanks her daughter away from the proceedings, placing herself once again in the sights of the evangelicals.
 
But Ruth has another unexpected problem: she can’t seem to get a handle on Tim, her supposed adversary, who keeps appearing at her front door. A recovering addict whose bottoming-out cost him his home and his marriage, Tim found his way to the Tabernacle of the Gospel Truth through the intervention of Pastor Dennis, the charismatic preacher who put Tim’s shattered life back together in an approximation of happiness. Thanks to Pastor Dennis, Tim is now married to Carrie, a fellow Tabernacler who is attractive and attentive, if robotic. He plays guitar at the weekly prayer sessions in a sanitized reenactment of his days in a Grateful Dead cover band. He holds a respectable if unfulfilling job as a loan officer, well aware of the irony of the post for a man with his history. He is grateful for the help he has received from his church community and Pastor Dennis. But he can’t shake the yearning for something more, and a nagging attraction to that troublesome sex-ed teacher....

With The Abstinence Teacher, Tom Perrotta wades into the murky waters of contemporary American suburbia, fully deploying his proven gift for describing the panic lurking beneath its seemingly placid surface. Already widely known to book and movie audiences for his scathing satire mixed with remarkable compassion in works including Election and Little Children (both adapted for film, Little Children garnering Perrotta an Oscar nomination), this novel once again proves, as declared by the Los Angeles Times, “Perrotta’s balance of humor and pathos has no equal.”   (From the Hardcover edition.)
 
Liz says:  An interesting look at two completely different viewpoints converging in on a suburban community.

PATRON PICKS--The Last Days of Ptolemy Grey

Susan's Pick:  The Last Days of Ptolemy Grey, by Walter Mosley

Synopsis:

Ptolemy Grey is ninety-one years old and has been all but forgotten-by his family, his friends, even himself-as he sinks into a lonely dementia. His grand-nephew, Ptolemy's only connection to the outside world, was recently killed in a drive-by shooting, and Ptolemy is too suspicious of anyone else to allow them into his life. until he meets Robyn, his niece's seventeen-year-old lodger and the only one willing to take care of an old man at his grandnephew's funeral.

But Robyn will not tolerate Ptolemy's hermitlike existence. She challenges him to interact more with the world around him, and he grasps more firmly onto his disappearing consciousness. However, this new activity pushes Ptolemy into the fold of a doctor touting an experimental drug that guarantees Ptolemy won't live to see age ninety- two but that he'll spend his last days in feverish vigor and clarity. With his mind clear, what Ptolemy finds-in his own past, in his own apartment, and in the circumstances surrounding his grand-nephew's death-is shocking enough to spur an old man to action, and to ensure a legacy that no one will forget.

In The Last Days of Ptolemy Grey, Mosley captures the compromised state of his protagonist's mind with profound sensitivity and insight, and creates an unforgettable pair of characters at the center of a novel that is sure to become a true contemporary classic.  (Goodreads)

Susan says:  Amazing voice, compelling story of age and treasure.

PATRON PICKS--Until Tuesday

Cathy's pick is Until Tuesday:  A Wounded Warrior and the Golden Retriever Who Saved Him, by Luis Carlos Montalvan

Synopsis:

Returning home after two tours of duty in Iraq, former U.S. Army Captain Luis Carlos Montalvan's physical injuries and post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) turn his life into a nightmarish existence. An email with a subject of "WWP and Puppies Behind Bars" alerted him to possible relief with the assistance of a service dog. This is his story but it is also the story of Tuesday, the intelligent, extensively trained but heartbroken golden retriever, who is chosen to become his service dog and constant companion.
 
Much more than a dog story or a personal memoir, this is one of those rare books that enable the reader to come away with a different worldview. Just as Born on a Blue Day by Daniel Tammet showed us the world through the eyes of an Autistic Savant, with Until Tuesday, Montalvan leaves his readers with a better understanding of the PTSD-driven world of a combat veteran and the valuable and unique role service dogs can fill in that world.  (Bruce T. Filbeck, Bookseller, #2696, Port Huron, MI/Goodreads)

Cathy says:  I learned a lot about service dogs and also the plight of returning veterans and how to have more empathy for them.

STAFF REVIEW: A Discovery of Witches

Valerie's review of A Discovery of Witches, by Deborah Harkness:

Discovering a magical manuscript in Oxford's library, scholar Diana Bishop, a descendant of witches who has rejected her heritage, inadvertently unleashes a fantastical underworld of daemons, witches, and vampires whose activities center on an enchanted treasure. But it doesn’t stop there, unfortunately. She also attracts the interest of a devastatingly handsome (aren’t they all?) fifteen hundred year old vampire. The romance, which dominates the center of the almost 600 page book, is trite, the characters are caricatures, the prose banal – however, it improves with additional characters, scenes and unresolved plotlines. The first volume of a proposed three book series, entitled “All Souls Trilogy,” I find myself a little impatient for the next installment to arrive.

STAFF PICKS: Compulsion

Karyn's pick:  Compulsion, by Heidi Ayarbe (YA)

Synopsis:

Today has to be perfect.
Magic.
I look at the clock.
10:14 am.
Ten fourteen. One plus one is two plus four is six plus ten is sixteen minus one is fifteen minus two is thirteen. OK.
I turn from the clock and walk into the hallway. "Ready.”

Saturday will be the third state soccer champion­ship in a row for Jake Martin. Three. A good number. Prime. With Jake on the field, Carson City High can't lose because Jake has the magic: a self-created protection generated by his obsession with prime numbers. It's the magic that has every top soccer university recruiting Jake, the magic that keeps his family safe, and the magic that suppresses his anxiety attacks. But the magic is Jake's prison, because sustaining it means his compulsions take over nearly every aspect of his life.

Jake's convinced the magic will be permanent after Saturday, the perfect day, when every prime has converged. Once the game is over, he won't have to rely on his sister to concoct excuses for his odd rituals. His dad will stop treating him like he is some freak. Maybe he'll even make a friend other than Luc.

But what if the magic doesn't stay?

What if the numbers never leave?

Acclaimed author Heidi Ayarbe has created an honest and riveting portrait of a teen struggling with obsessive compulsive disorder in this breathtaking and courageous novel.

Karyn says:  Reading this book was almost (not really!) as frustrating as it would be to live with OCD.  However, it is a very realistic look at this disorder that many people live with.

STAFF PICKS--Skulduggery Pleasant

Karyn's Pick:  Skulduggery Pleasant, by Derek Landy (YA)

Synopsis:

Meet Skulduggery Pleasant, Ace Detective Snappy Dresser Razor–tongued Wit Crackerjack Sorcerer and Walking, Talking, Fire-throwing Skeleton—as well as ally, protector, and mentor of Stephanie Edgley, a very unusual and darkly talented twelve-year-old. These two alone must defeat an all-consuming ancient evil. The end of the world?

Over his dead body.

Karyn says:  Action-packed and full of magic, not to mention a walking, talking, fireball-throwing skeleton!  Audio book especially recommended--narrator is great!

What are you reading this weekend?

Here's what some of the Durham Library staff are reading...

Valerie:  Lost in Shangri-La (by Mitchell Zuckoff) and Look at Me (by Jennifer Eagan)

Cyndi:  The Eyre Affair (by Jasper Fforde), The Lock Artist (by Steve Hamilton), Artists in Crime (by Ngaio Marsh), and Big Dig (by Linda Barnes)

Carol:  Teach Us to Sit Still (by Tim Parks)

Karyn:  Teen, Inc. (by Stefan Petrucha)

Diana:  Fall of Giants (by Ken Follet) and The View from Saturday (by E. L. Konigsburg)

Jane:  Pompeii (by Robert Harris) and The Last Days of Pompeii (by Edward Bulwer-Lytton)

Patti:  Lake of Sorrows (by Erin Hart) and The Help (by Kathryn Stockett)

Zack (our Teen worker):  Twilight (by Stephenie Meyer)

What's on your reading list for the weekend?
Happy Reading!

PATRON PICKS--The Informationist

Patty's pick:  The Informationist, by Taylor Stevens

Synopsis:
Vanessa “Michael” Munroe deals in information—expensive information—working for corporations, heads of state, private clients, and anyone else who can pay for her unique brand of expertise. Born to missionary parents in lawless central Africa, Munroe took up with an infamous gunrunner and his mercenary crew when she was just fourteen. As his protégé, she earned the respect of the jungle's most dangerous men, cultivating her own reputation for years until something sent her running. After almost a decade building a new life and lucrative career from her home base in Dallas, she's never looked back.
Until now.

A Texas oil billionaire has hired her to find his daughter who vanished in Africa four years ago. It’s not her usual line of work, but she can’t resist the challenge. Pulled deep into the mystery of the missing girl, Munroe finds herself back in the lands of her childhood, betrayed, cut off from civilization, and left for dead. If she has any hope of escaping the jungle and the demons that drive her, she must come face-to-face with the past that she’s tried for so long to forget.

Patty says:  Exciting--as good as Stieg Larsson!  A fantastic first novel.

STAFF PICKS: The Fox Inheritance

Patti's pick:  The Fox Inheritance, by Mary E. Pearson (YA)

From the book cover:  They say time heals all wounds, but they're wrong.  After a terrible accident destroyed their bodies, the minds of three best friends were kept alive, spinning in a digital netherworld.  Even in that disembodied nightmare, they were still together.  At least at first.  When Jenna disappeared, Locke and Kara had to go on without her.  Decades passed, and then centuries.

Two hundred and sixty years later, they have been released at last.  Given new, perfect bodies, Locke and Kara awaken to a world they know nothing about, where everyone they once knew and loved is long dead.  Everyone...except Jenna Fox.

Patti says:  I loved it!  I was very fortunate to receive an advance copy of The Fox Inheritance.  Its release day is August 30th, but I'm glad I didn't have to wait that long to read it.  I enjoyed the first book in the series, The Adoration of Jenna Fox, so I was interested to find out what happened next in the story.  It picks up 260 years later and is told from the point of view of Locke, one of Jenna's friends. 

The Fox Inheritance is a wonderful blend of mystery, suspense, sci fi, and character development.  I think you could read it without reading Jenna first, but I think you'll enjoy the story more if you read the books in order.

These books are for young adults, but adults will enjoy them, too.  I've also read another book by Mary Pearson, The Miles Between, which is a great story about four teens who leave their boarding school to go on a road trip in search of "one fair day."  Another must-read!

STAFF PICKS--Blind Hope

Valerie's pick is Blind Hope:  An Unwanted Dog and the Woman She Rescued,  by Kim Meeder

Blind Hope, tells the story of Laurie Sacher, who works at a ranch where wounded horses and broken kids are brought together to heal. But Sacher is in need of healing herself. In an attempt to soothe her aching soul, Laurie reached out to save a dog in need. She names the blind, ailing, but courageous dog Mia. Fundamentally this is a love story between Sacher and Mia as human and dog grew to trust one another one day, one bump, and one bruise at a time. ‘My dog is blind… and now I see’ is Laurie’s description of the relationship, which gave her what she needed most: authentic love, unconditional trust, and true acceptance, faults and all. Author Meeder, who operates the ranch, relates this tale without false or sappy sentiment. A book to delight animal lovers, people of faith and all seekers of inspiration.

STAFF PICKS: Where the God of Love Hangs Out

Valerie's Pick:  Where the God of Love Hangs Out, by Amy Bloom

Bloom's latest collection looks at love in many forms through a keenly perceptive lens.  Two sets of stories that read much like novellas form the book's soul; each explores the complicated nature of love, compromise and acceptance, which often comes too late.