Pioneer Library System

It's that time of year again - back to school! Did you get all your summer reading completed? Still needing a quick literary fix before the school bell rings for the first day of class?

The staff of the Pioneer Library System have reviewed and recommend the following titles to help you reach your summer reading resolutions - before it's time to hit those text books.

Civil and Strange by Clair Ni Aonghusa

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

Ballindoon, Ireland is a storybook village set in the beautiful Irish countryside.  It is the perfect place for Ellen Hughes to escape after a difficult failed marriage.  Ellen has fond memories of visiting family in the quaint village as a child and is eager to restore the family homestead.  She intends to renovate the cottage, as well as her own life.  However, village life is not quite as simple as it would seem.  Ellen is used to the anonymity of the city, whereas in Ballindoon her every move is discussed at the local market.  Also, her uncle Matt is struggling with his ambivalent feeling concerning his wife's terminal illness and Ellen must decide how to help this private and angry man.
When a handsome and very young local carpenter attempts to break her self-imposed isolation, Ellen's attempt at the "simple life" officially spins out of control.  The result is a village filled with eccentrically lovable and cantankerous characters, struggling to remain simple in a complicated world.
The author was born and raised in Dublin, and is an award winning poet.  Her depiction of life in Ireland depicts the struggles of tradition and modern changes.

The Women by T.C. Boyle

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

Frank Lloyd Wright was an artist and architect whose vision changed the face of architectural standards of beauty forever.  He was also a womanizer and man of grand passions whose liaisons brought both rapture and heartache to the four women whose relationships with Wright are chronicled in Boyle's rich, dense book.  The Women is an ambitious and ultimately successful effort to understand the complex, childish, charming and gifted man who fell in love with four different women and whose relationships with all but one ended tragically.

The narrator is a young Japanese intern named Tadashi Sato, who arrives at Wright's Wisconsin sanctuary of Taliesin in 1932 and both works in the kitchen and the fields before he becomes assistant and confidant to the grand architect.  He first tells the story of Olgivanna, the last of Wright's great amours and a woman whose dour countenance and penchant for hard work earn her the nickname of "Dragon Lady" among the hapless apprentices under her control.  Maude Miriam Noel, a passionate and unstable beauty with a serious morphine habit, maker her appearance early in the book as Olgivanna's nemesis: as Wright's reluctant second ex-wife, she terrorizes both Miriam and Olgivanna for years.  Before Miriam, there was the lovely and doomed Mamah Borthwick Cheney, who was brutally murdered at Taliesin in 1914.  Finally and yet first of all is Wright's first wife, Kitty, the long-suffering mother of his six children.  She endured the national scandal that erupted when he left her for Mamah, her former neighbor and friend, yet fought a divorce for years.
The amazing thing about Wright's gift is that it was never extinguished despite all of his domestic chaos: he continued to design extraordinary buildings whose stark, linear beauty echoed his passion for Japan and all things Japanese and whose beauty remains today.  The Women isn't a quick read but it's a fascinating one who impact will linger long after the book is finished.

The Draining Lake by Arnaldur Indridason

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

How many books have you read that take place in Iceland?  This police procedural mystery follows the discovery of a skeleton found in the middle of an Icelandic Lake.  Because the lake has reached a record low level, the body is found 30 years after it was tied to a Soviet listening device and pushed into the deep waters.
The police begin investigating every missing person case for that time period.  Even with Iceland's small population and low crime rate, the task drags on for months.  Only Inspector Erlender refuses to give up.  He is obsessed with missing persons. His own brother disappeared in a snowstorm as a child.  His empathy for those who don't know what happened to their loved ones keeps him on the case.  Looking for clues, he consults with the retired detective who investigated the missing person cases when they were first reported, who tells him to trace the obsolete listening device that sank the victim.
The best lead comes from the American embassy, who tells the police that an East German spy disappeared in Iceland during the 1970s.  During the Cold War, the American naval base in Iceland was a target for Soviet spies.  The book revisits the secrecy and distrust of the times when the Soviet Union and its satellites, like East Germany, were searching for ways to get information on their enemies.
During this time period, the Communists were recruiting Icelandic students to join the Party and come to East Germany to study on scholarship.  The story of one of these students is intertwined with the description of the police investigations.  In his past, he also lost a loved one and doesn't know if she is dead or alive, killed by the East Germans, imprisoned, escaped or released.
Erlender is a melancholic detective hero, devoted to his job, estranged from his children, trying to begin a romantic relationship but afraid to get close to anyone.  His co-workers have their own lives outside police work.  One has written a cookbook; one is trying to get pregnant.
I like the way the author weaves into the story different way people can be lost.  Some are lost even though they are still alive, lost because they want to be or because no one cares.  If you like suspense novels set in unusual places with interesting characters and plot, try any of the three Reykjavik murder mysteries by Arnaldur Indridason.

The Underneath by Kathi Appelt with drawings by David Small

Genre: Childrens Fiction
Reviewer: Dee Dee Corn, Moore Public Library
Available as downloadable audiobook

The Underneath is a book that you will either hate or love.  This book was extremely dark and sad.  Anyone at any time in the story could die, even so, I found myself drawn to the book.  The story is hard to describe.  It takes place in the forest and swamps of southeast Texas near the Louisiana border.  There is a calico cat that has had two kittens, an abused bloodhound, and a recluse hunter. One of the young kittens ventures out from the safety of the "underneath" of the porch and this sets in motion events that transform their lives.  The story intertwines magic and myths with real places.  It takes place in the past and in the present.  It is full of hate but also love.  The idea of the story is that there can be love and redemption even in the darkest hour and in the most horrible circumstances there can be hope.  The Underneath has three different story lines that come together at the end of the book to tie all of the loose ends together in a brilliant way.
This would be a wonderful read aloud that would bring about a great discussion with older children where the poetic language, character development and plot situations could be talked about at length.  I also believe that this book is not for every kid.  It is filled with animal abuse and suspense that many children may find too disturbing, nevertheless, justice prevails in the end.  Those kids that had a hard time with Stone Fox or Charlotte's Web should not read this.  This was a book I had a hard time beginning, however now that I have finished the book, I want to reread the book all over again.  I believe The Underneath will become a modern classic and people will continue reading for years to come.
I was first drawn to the book but the Caldecott Medalist David Small's endearing illustrations on the front cover. His drawings of the bloodhound and kittens pulled me in.  His illustrations managed to be touching yet not adorable.  It was a nice addition to the storyline.
The Underneath was listed as a national Book Award Finalist, a project of the National Book Foundation and voted a 2009 John Newberry Honor Book by the American Library Association.  Kathi Appelt has also written numerous picture book, including Oh My Baby Little One and Cowboy Dreams.

John Lennon: The Life by Philip Norman

Genre: Biography
Reviewer: Megan Morgan, Pioneer Public Information Office
Available as downloadable audiobook

Philip Norman's biography of John Lennon, John Lennon: The Life, weighs in at a hefty 800+ pages, but for any fan or admirer, the book never feels too long.  As a huge fan of the Beatles, and John and his solo career, I picked up this biography with a little skepticism - what could Philip Norman possibly say that hasn't already been said about John Lennon?  As it turns out, Norman's account is full of surprises, even for the zealous enthusiast.
The book begins far into John's past with a description of his grandparents on his father's side.  While this may seem to be reaching back to distantly, Norman does an excellent job of relating their stories to their future grandson's life, sometime with eerie parallels.  John's childhood is also deeply delved into, and Norman provides fascinating new insight into truths about his relationships with his mother and father.  There are many quotes from Aunt Mimi, who raised John, and from his boyhood classmates and friends, which really bring the young John Lennon to life.
John Lennon: The Life tells John's story all the way through his time with the Beatles, where Paul, George and Ringo get minimal, but sufficient, time in the spotlight, since the focus is always on John.  The book continues through John's solo career, and his tragic murder concludes the book.  But in a postscript titles "Sean Remembers." John's son Sean reminisces about the father he hardly knew in a touching and sad interview with Norman.  Seeing John from Sean's five-year-old perspective will be revealing and fresh for fans.
Throughout the book, it becomes very obvious that Philip Norman did his homework.  He includes many quotes from people who knew John over his lifetime, and reveals new insights in long interviews with Yoko Ono, Paul McCartney, George Martin, and others.  Norman also provides necessary historical information that puts the story in context - he is careful to make sure that the reader understands the wider scope while also honing in on small details.
Philip Norman has written other biographies of musicians, including Buddy Holly and The Rolling Stones.  Norman is also the author of a Beatles biography titled Shout: The Beatles in Their Generation, and even covered the breakup of the Beatles company, Apple Corps, in 1969-70.  clearly, it seems that no one is more qualified to write John's biography.
John Lennon: The Life comes highly recommended by a John Lennon fan for other John Lennon fans.  Its highly thorough coverage may be considered too much information for those not interested in John's live, but will come as a pleasant surprise for readers who love the man who could imagine.