Pioneer Library System

Mark Twain once declared,

October is one of the peculiarly dangerous months to speculate in stocks. Others are July, January, April, September, November, May, March, June, December, August and February.

Given that and the current economic climate - perhaps you would prefer to read a good book. The staff of hometown libraries of the Pioneer Library System recommend the following reads for this month of Independence.

 And if you really want to talk finances this time of year, you can always make arrangements to visit one of our money management events listed on the calendar!

Sleepwalking in Daylight, by Elizabeth Flock

Genre: Adult Fiction
Reviewer: Julie Kreft, Moore Public Library

Samantha Friedman is the mom that other moms admire.  She always seems so "put together" with great hair, a hard-working husband, and three mostly well-groomed children.  But peeking behind the curtains of Sam's suburban Chicago house reveals a much different picture: a Goth daughter experimenting with drugs and promiscuity, an emotionally absent husband, and an increasingly intense "friendship" with a handsome man who is also on the brink of family crisis.  As Sam struggles to reconnect with herself and her family, she wonders where she went wrong and how she can find happiness in a life that is rapidly slipping out of her control.  This is a wonderfully poignant and tragic novel about the choices we make and the truth behind so many carefully placed lies.

The Yankee Years, by Joe Torre and Tome Verducci

Genre: Adult Biography
   Available as downloadable audio or ebook
Reviewer: Aaron Pence, Moore Public Library

For fans of the sport - even exceedingly casual fans like me - The Yankee Years is a gripping story about baseball's most storied franchise, told through a solid duo of one of baseball's most successful and insightful men, and one of its most successful and insightful chroniclers.
Beginning with the hiring of Torre following the 1995 season, the book sweeps across the whole recent Yankee landscape, from their initial, wondrous success, to the fairly bitter losses in the 2001-2007 playoffs.  Along the way, we get - as only a manager can give us - an insight into the spirit of each of the teams, from the hardworking beehive or 1998 to the fragile egotism of 2006.  We get a good, fair look at all of the players, from the beloved (Derek Jeter, Mariano Rivera) to the belittled (Roger Clemens, Alex Rodriguez).  The book has a marvelous behind-th-scenes appeal, an athletes-beyond-the-diamond feel to it that lets you get enveloped in the stories without even needing to know a score.

There's a lot to learn in here about player development and acquisition as well as the makeup of a team (and why jamming superstar after superstar into a glutted New York clubhouse isn't, despite what it says on paper, such a good thing!) There's a lot of discussion about Moneyball and the new baseball economic player evaluation; the shift toward OBP as a player value yardstick over batting average, the shift towards more and better statistics, and the shift towards value for money-spent over sheer value as a player.
But the great strength of the book is its psychological analysis of the parts of a team.  Throughout the book, Verducci mostly keeps his writing out of the players' way, and he therefore can clearly convey the personalities of the participants as they actually are.  Torre, among others, is allowed to speak fro himself and you get an idea of the disjointed yet profound way he talks:
       "There's a certain free fall you have to through when you commit yourself without a guarantee that it's always going to be good. There's a sort of trust, a trust and commitment thing that has to allow
        yourself to fail"
The Yankee Years is a compelling read that dept me up a few nights, on reminiscent of Six Seconds or Less in ease of reading, in the psychological probing of players we only know on-the-field, and in the tragic, meteoric sense that it all starts so beautifully, with the sky the limit . . .

Shanghai Girls, by Lisa See

Genre: Adult Fiction
Reviewer: Susan Gregory, Pioneer Library System Development Office

This is simply one of the most powerful and graceful books that I've read in a long time.  Moving quickly up the national fiction best-seller lists, Shaghai Girls tells the story of two sisters who are raised in the splendor of pre-World War II Shanghai only to face a harsh new reality when they find that they are to be sold as brides to suitors who have traveled from California to find obedient Chinese wives, in order to pay their father's gambling debts.  Overnight, they go from being "beautiful girls" who serve as models for Chinese luxuries to desperate young women who flee Shanghai under the assault of the Japanese army with their mother, only to find themselves victims of unspeakable brutality at the hands of a roving band of soldiers.  Pearl is the stronger sister, born under the sign of the Dragon, while May is the sweet and malleable "Sheep."  May saves Pearl's life and helps her to accept the fact that their only chance for safety is to go to California to join their new husbands. Their ordeals continue as they spend months in a U.S. detainment camp before they are finally allowed to go to Los Angeles to join their new and unknown family.  The child born to one of them during their confinement will grow into a beautiful girl, Joy, who is as bright and rebellious as they once were and who brings both laughter and tragedy to the family.
May and Pearl endure the shock of western culture to build a life that has a surprising amount of happiness and love in it.  They run a profitable business in Chinatown and do business with the growing Hollywood film industry.  Their family grows and life is peaceful until their tranquility is shattered by the Communist witch hunts of the Fifties and tragedy one again strikes.  Unable to face the aftermath of a death for which she feels responsible, Joy runs away to China in search of her real father.  Pearl and May are devastated but Pearl is determined to save her daughter from the danger she will face in Mao's Cultural Revolution, so she follows her.
Shanghai Girls is much like Many Tan's The Joy Luck Club.  Both books are written in simple, spare prose that powerfully captures the stories of women who survive hardship after hardship to build families and who will endure more hardship to keep those families together.  The beauty of the Chinese culture shines through Pearl and May's story and becomes the powerful thread that links all three women together.  Above all, the sisters still have hope.  As young girls, they fled China and a horrific war in search of a sanctuary in California.  Their hope now will be for the safe return of their daughter, Joy, to that hard-won sanctuary.  This is a beautifully told story with enormous emotional power.  I will never walk through a Chinatown again without thinking of Pearl and May.

Stanley and the Class Pet, by Barney Saltzberg

Genre: Children's Picture Book
Reviewer: Alice Fielding, Pioneer Service Center

This book is great for children because it teaches a fantastic lesson about how to say no when someone is urging you to do something you know is wrong.  It also teaches a good lesson about admitting when you're wrong and doing what you can to make amends, even when you can't entirely fix the problem or make it go away.  Even adults sometimes deny or wallow in their problems, so adults can learn from the book, too!  Finally, the ending is good because it doesn't shy away from the real issues.  It teaches that actions have consequences and you have to deal with them.  An excellent book for all ages!

Prayers for Sale, by Sandra Dallas

Genre: Adult Fiction
Reviewer: Brenda Johnson, Moore Public Library

Hennie Comfort is so happy with her life in the small Colorado mining town of Middle Swan she needs no prayers for herself, she can give them away.  Her husband Jake makes a sign for the front yard: Prayers for Sale.
When a young newlywed, Nit Spindle, moves to town, she stops by Hennie's cabin to buy a prayer.  Hennie, of course, does not charge for her prayers and befriends the young woman.  In spite of the big difference in their ages, the two share many life experiences and a love of quilting.  The two walk the mountain trails or sit together by a fire and piece quilts while Hennie shares stories of her life and of other townspeople who have come to Middle Swan seeking their fortunes in the gold mines.
Hennie's life hasn't always been happy.  She moved to Middle Swan as a mail-order bride after the death of her husband and daughter during Civil War anarchy in Tennessee.  Her second marriage turned out to be a good if not perfect one.
Nit needs prayers and a friend because she fears for her husband's safety working on the dangerous mining sledge, mourns the death of her newborn daughter back in Kentucky, and has a lot to learn about life in a frontier town with harsh winters and high altitude.
As Nit and her husband Dick begin their lives, the widowed, 86-year-old Hennie is nearing the end of hers.  She agrees with her daughter in Iowa that she cannot continue to live alone but dread moving to the flatlands away from the life she has built in Middle Swan.
This sweet story of life in the mountains of Colorado takes place during the depression of the 1930s but is timeless in it's view of life as a journey with tragedies, compromises, losses and gains.  What Hennie teaches Nit about local herbs and quilting is interesting and the characters are engaging and believable.

The Nation, by Terry Pratchett

Genre: Teen Fiction
   Available as downloadable audio
Reviewer: Leanne Cheeck, Moore Public Library

After returning from his spirit journey, Mau discovers that his entire village and all the people in it have disappeared due to some kind of tidal wave.  The only other person to have survived the wave is Daphne, a British girl from the other side of the world who has been shipwrecked there.  Both teenagers struggle with communication and the clashing of their two cultures while trying to figure out what to do next.  As they are joined by others who survived the wave and are drawn to their fire, they must try to piece together a new civilization.  The major problem is that neither of them has been taught how grown-ups handle a civilization and yet they find themselves in charge of everything and everyone around them.
Terry Pratchett blends together humor, philosophy, religion, and culture to create a unique look at why civilizations have the rules they have and whether or not all those rules are necessary.  Because his characters are so young and confused it makes these heavy issues extremely accessible to younger audiences.  Pratchett's unique style will prompt readers to reevaluate what they think about the world one moment and crack up with laughter the next.
Readers who enjoyed Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials and Suzanne Collins' The Hunger Games will enjoy The Nation.  Readers can enjoy the same king of pacing, interesting and strong-willed characters, as well as the accessible views on philosophy and culture.  Not to mention, reader can enjoy similar humor and odd situations that envelop the characters and readers alike.