100 Minutes with an Author

This spring, Winnipeg Public Library is pleased to present its series “100 Minutes with an Author” in partnership with the Writers’ Collective of Manitoba. Three local authors writing in various genres will be on hand to speak about their work.

Starting on Thursday, April 5^th, Ishbel Moore will focus on “Writing for Young Adults.” Her books appear in both children’s and young adult collections. Many include elements of time travel and fantasy, often paired with a Winnipeg or Manitoba setting for some of the story. In The Summer of the Hand, Shona journeys 400 years back in time to Scotland, where a murder is about to happen. Meanwhile, her family is planning a move to Winnipeg. Other titles by this author feature characters dealing with personal and family issues. In Daughter, Sylvie finds that her mother is beginning to act in strange ways, which turn out to be symptoms of Alzheimer’s Disease. More information about the author’s other works can be found on her website.

The following week, Bob Armstrong discusses “Writing Humour” on Thursday, April 12. After a number of Fringe plays—see his website for a complete list—he published his first novel last year. Dadolescence is a comical take on the stay-at-home dad; here Bill and his two pals in the ‘hood of the suburbs share a similar state of (un)employment. He is purportedly working on his thesis, but considers the other two in need of enlightenment about the aimlessness of their lives: one is mired in a never-ending cycle of home improvements, while the other is a compulsive exaggerator, shall we say, of his past accomplishments. Bill hatches a complicated plan to bring everything to a head, and turns out to be in for a dose of reality himself. This book continues the legacy of Red Green, where men are amusingly hapless and harmless, and tolerated by their long-suffering wives. Readers who enjoy Armstrong’s writing might also want to look at the blog linked to his website, containing interesting comments on reading and the writing life, among other things.

The series wraps up with “Doodles, Dog Walks & Drains: Desperately Seeking Inspiration” presented by Patti Grayson on Thursday, April 19. Her recent novel Autumn, One Spring injects humour into a story of relationships, when Autumn appears in town just as her sister is preparing for her wedding. Incidents in their past mean that the sisters are far from eager to reunite. Grayson’s earlier book, Core Samples, is a volume of short stories. The author brings a prairie voice to her snapshot on the character’s lives in these condensed narratives. Check out the website for further information about her.

So take advantage of the chance to hear these authors discuss the creative process and the writing life. All programs start at 7 p.m. and end at–well, it’s “100 Minutes with an Author.” You do the math…

-Brenda

Curl Up and Read a Bedtime Story

In this day and age of hectic lives and busy schedules, reading together with your family is a simple and enjoyable way to slow things down.  The bonus?  You may just inspire your children to become lifelong readers. 

Some of my fondest memories of growing up include cozying up on my mom’s big double bed, surrounded by cushions as we shared a story every night.  We would read books about all sorts of places and people — everything from The Very Hungry Caterpillar to Anne of Green Gables – and I loved every minute of it. 

I am certain that my passion for books as an adult stems from these warm and positive experiences as a child – and within the last decade, there has been a great deal of research that shows the long-term benefits of bedtime reading. 

According to the American Library Association, children who start school with years of happy reading aloud experiences under their belts grow into confident learners in all subject areas simply because they are in the best possible position to get the most out of school.  Their strong language and listening skills and wide general knowledge help them to understand more of what the teacher says and give them the ability to confidently take part in class discussions.

After all, the oh-so-wise Dr. Seuss once said, “The more that you read, the more things you will know.  The more that you learn, the more places you’ll go.” 

So whether you’re an old pro at reading to your children, or just starting out, snuggle up with your family tonight, and read a good book.  Need a good suggestion?  Take a look at the 2012 nominees for the E.B. White Read-Aloud Award – these are the cream of the crop when it comes to read-alouds: 

For Kids Ages 6+

The Apothecary by Maile Meloy
The Cheshire Cheese Cat: A Dickens of a Tale by Carmen Agra Deedy and Randall Wright
The Flint Heart by Katherine Paterson and John Paterson
Liesl & Po by Lauren Oliver
Wildwood by Colin Meloy

For Pre-School Children

I Want My Hat Back by Jon Klassen
Press Here by Hervé Tullet
Stars by Mary Lyn Ray
Over and Under the Snow by Kate Messner
Goodnight, Goodnight, Construction Site by Sherri Duskey Rinker

Lindsay

Shop, Shop ’til You Drop

Star Trek characters never go shopping.
-Doug Coupland

While no one knows the exact moment that someone exchanged a form of currency for an item, it’s been going on for a very long time. Love it or loath it, shopping is one of those tasks we all do from time to time. The exchange of money for goods has been going on for centuries. The variety of goods and opportunities to shop has never been greater, and shows no signs of slowing down. Whether you’re a hang the expense type, a super saver shopper, a reduce and re-suer, or a do it under duress customer everyone has to shop sometime.

The psychology behind the urge to shop is a fascinating topic. In Unthinking: the Surprising Forces Behind Why We Buy, marketing experts such as Harry Beckwith discuss the unexpected, underlying impulses that inspire us to shop.

Gone to the Shops: Shopping in Victorian England is a charming glimpse into the past, when shopping became a part of the daily routine, as more ready made goods became available, and socially acceptable.

For many of us, shopping is as unconscious as breathing. But have you ever tried not shopping? It’s hard to imagine, but Judith Levine did just that, for an entire year. Not Buying It: My Year Without Shopping is her account of disconnecting from the consumer world.

Shopping, especially for clothes, is generally viewed as something frivolous and self-indulgent, and in some ways that’s true. But does that also mean that it’s unnecessary? Linda Grant tells us why shopping is a part of living well in The Thoughtful Dresser: The Art of Adornment, the Pleasures of Shopping, and Why Clothes Matter.

Shopping in the 21st century got you confused? Not sure what to buy, or where to buy it? Take a look at The Complete Idiot’s Guide to eBay, or The Rough Guide to Shopping with a Conscience.

Everybody loves a bargain, but what’s the best way to get one? Stephanie Nelson, author of The Coupon Mom’s Guide to Cutting Your Grocery Bills in Half and Sam Pocker, who wrote Retail Anarchy: a Radical Shopper’s Adventures in Consumption will teach you how to shop smarter, not harder.

Shopping, as with any activity, is dangerous when carried to an extreme. Check out Spent: Memoirs of a Shopping Addict, or Hot (Broke) Messes to see the dark side of shopping.

There’s even a genre of fiction devoted to shopping, headlined by the classic Shopaholic series by Sophie Kinsella. Plowed through all of those already? Try Something From Tiffany’s by Melissa Hill or Late Night Shopping by Carmen Reid.

Shop on!

-Lori

Best Books of the 21st Century

Almost without noticing it, this 21st century is getting on in years! (What decade are we calling this one we’re in? I have no idea.) And already there is a great crop of fiction books published since the year 2000. Fans of Goodreads, a fantastic anybody-can-join website which helps you organize your personal reading has put together an open-ended ‘Best Books of the 21st Century’ list. The results are pouring in. Over 5000 readers worldwide have voted so far, and what a list it is! Here are some of my personal favourites from the ones that I’ve read, including the ranking of each on the list (rankings of course were as of the date this post was written and the numbers are subject to change – perils of a live list!).

The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini (#1 ) is a poignant, unpretentious story of friendship, betrayal and taking advantage of opportunities for redemption, amidst a backdrop of tremendous political and social upheaval in Afghanistan. Well worth reading for its universal themes around love and friendship, but also for its window into this troubled part of the world. I recommend the movie version too, but after reading the book.

Life of Pi by Yann Martel (#5) is a fantasy adventure tale about belonging and faith like no other. It’s hard to believe several publishers rejected it until it was let loose on the world in 2001! It’s the story of Piscine Molitor “Pi” Patel, son of an Indian zoo owner, who after a shipwreck, is stranded on a small boat in the Pacific Ocean with a Bengali tiger named ‘Richard Parker’, an orangutan, a zebra and a spotted hyena. Movie version is to be released at the end of 2012!

The Road by Cormac McCarthy (#8) is a finely-written dystopian adventure story set in the American West, immediately after a nuclear-type holocaust has occurred. The setting is undoubtedly bleak as a father and son walk towards the light at the end of the tunnel, yet their relationship sustains something worth saving. Movie version is worthwhile too.

Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides (#13) is an engrossing, immigrant family tragicomic saga that spans several generations, but focuses on a character named Cal, a hermaphrodite who was raised as a girl until adolescence. The story surprises with its well-rounded characters and a sprawling canvass that is fascinated with questions of fate and choice; it makes you question what divergent stories have come together to make you who you are today!

Everything Is Illuminated by Jonathan Safran Foer (#34). “An arresting blend of high comedy and great tragedy, this is a story about searching for people and places that no longer exist, for the hidden truths that haunt every family, and for the delicate but necessary tales that link past and future. Exuberant and wise, hysterically funny and deeply movie, Everything is Illuminated is an astonishing debut” (Google books).

The Story of Edgar Sawtelle by David Wroblewski (#59) is an unlikely tragic tale set on a successful dog-breeding farm in northern Wisconsin. The protagonist is born mute, which adds levels of mystery and suspense that the story might not otherwise possess. But there’s a lot more to the story: is it not a mythic retelling of the Bard’s ‘Hamlet’ come to the modern American Midwest?

What’s your favourite from the entire list of 100? Which would you like to read next?

-Lyle

Hello, my name is Sophie and I am an audiobooks snob.

If you’ve never met an audiobooks snob, then you should probably count yourself lucky.  We’re kind of like wine snobs, except way nerdier: we’ll talk your ear off about things that no one should really care about, and spend way too much time bemoaning the fact that 90% of the thing that we love is absolute dreck. 

Bartimaeus Trilogy

When the Library first launched its eLibraries Manitoba digital audiobook service, I went from CD audiobook tolerator to obsessed downloader pretty much overnight.  The moment of truth for me was the day I was refinishing my floors — audiobook player in pocket, sound-cancelling headphones in ear — and got to the end of Book 2 in a series of three and realized I could download Book 3, immediately, without even leaving the house. This was a *very* good thing, because I was covered head to toe in sawdust and only had so many hours left on my Home Depot floor sander rental.

I’m fiercely committed to audiobooks.  I might have REAL books and ebooks falling off my shelves waiting to be read, but if I’m getting to the end of my latest audiobook and don’t have a new one lined up, I go into panic mode.  Part of the lure is their fierce multitasking power: audiobooks allow me to devote time to books that would otherwise just be lost.  Take the morning commute, for example.  While I see other people reading ebooks and print books on the bus, I can’t do it because I’m paranoid about missing my bus stop, and looking down at a printed page (while it makes the bus ride fly by) puts you in this alterna-universe where you forget to notice ordinary things like “where you are” and “why it’s a good idea to occasionally look up.” 

Pathfinder

Audiobooks, though, are completely MADE for the bus. You get to read the book AND pay attention to the world around you.  And when you get off the bus, you don’t have to stop reading.  Extra time that can be harvested for reading?  GOLD.  Strangely, I find that looking around at the scenery actually helps me pay attention to the narrator; when I’m just sitting and listening and not also doing some other task, my mind wanders and can’t focus on the story.  That’s why audiobooks are also perfect for repetitive tasks like gardening and housework; the task keeps your mind on the book, and the book keeps your mind off the task. As an added bonus, you end up with a catalogue of associative memories tied to specific places/actions — the pit I just dug in my backyard brings up the bank scene in Orson Scott Card’s Pathfinder, and rereading The Book Thief takes me back to walking the bike path between the Forks and Osborne Village — strange, vivid sense memories that are burned into my mind by the combined enjoyment of both place and story.

So I love audiobooks, but yet I will also refuse to listen to the vast majority of them. I’m RIDICULOUSLY picky. A book that’s good on paper is not necessarily a good audiobook, and vice versa.  Award-winning?  Doesn’t matter. What I crave is that elusive audiobook experience that improves on the book, brings the characters to life in ways my own brain couldn’t imagine, makes me dread the last disc because it means it will all be over soon.

The Book Thief

Really, what it all comes down to is the narrator.  There’s a limit to how long I’ll spend listening to a voice that I don’t like, even if I’m just a tiny bit bothered by it.  Some audiobooks are 10 to 20 hours long, and that’s a pretty big commitment for someone who has a patronizing attitude, or who puts inflection on the wrong sentences, or leaves inflection out entirely, or reads EVERYTHING like it’s a fire alarm announcement, with Giant. Dramatic. Pauses between each sentence.  If the narrator is reading the book “wrong,” I give it the old heave-ho, delete, next! treatment so fast it spins.  It’s hard to explain how something can be “read wrong,” because everyone reads the way they read, right?  Wrong. Good audiobook narrating is not about reading, it’s about acting. Audiobook readers just say the words on the page, whereas audiobook actors rehearse, think about the character, build their backstory in their minds and say the characters’ lines deliberately with all of the characters traits, flaws, habits in mind.  I ONLY tolerate audiobooks narrated by people who get that difference.  And I’ll rarely pick up an audiobook with a full cast of voices, because the likelihood that they’ll ALL be good narrators is slim. Boy, does that ever limit my choices.

So, like all snobs, I’m hamstrung by my own refusal to accept the mundane.  And even though one of the top lessons I’ve learned in my years as a snob is to NEVER take advice about what to listen to (because how could anyone live up to impossible standards?), I’ll leave you with a list of my recent favorites:

His Majesty's Dragon

- Ender’s Shadow (and also Pathfinder, as mentioned above) by Orson Scott Card. There’s just something about Card’s books that translates well to the dramatic medium of audio.
- His Majesty’s Dragon and others in the Temeraire Series, by Naomi Novik. Brilliant series, even MORE brilliant in narration.  Simon Vance’s Temeraire voice is genius and has totally made it impossible for me to read this series on paper.
- Bloody Jack: Being an Account of the Curious Adventures of Mary “Jacky” Faber, Ship’s Boy by L. A. Meyer. A hilariously campy and contrived historical fiction series which is narrated BRILLIANTLY by Katherine Kellgren.
- The Ruby In the Smoke and others in the Sally Lockhart Mystery Series by Philip Pullman. The whole series is great–something about those British accents… 
- The Dead and the Gone, The Last Survivors Series, Book 2, by Susan Beth Pfeffer. Book one was terrible on audio; book two shook me to the core.

And of course my all-time favorites, a triumvirate of audio bliss:

- The Book Thief (again, as mentioned above) by Markus Zusak. I’ve listened to it twice now and both times had me weeping like a baby in public.
- The Amulet of Samarkand (Bartimaeus trilogy) by Jonathan Stroud.
- The Tale of Despereaux, by Kate DiCamillo. Three times so far.  And will probably listen again.

Sophie

Books to Steal from Your Teenager

First it was your daughter. And then it was your daughter’s best friend. And then it was your daughter’s best friend’s mother….and that guy at the dentist’s office…..and that 40-year old account exec on the bus! 

It’s the Twilight phenomenon, and these days, it seems as though everyone and their dog has read it – heck, Stephanie Meyer has practically taken up permanent residency on the NY Times Bestseller List, having made a home there for the last 165 weeks!  Not to mention all of the Twilight paraphernalia that has hit the market, including Twilight inspired hair tools that are specifically designed to recreate characters’ hairstyles from the movies (use the chunky round brush to shape soft waves like Bella, or try the mini flatiron for Edward’s smoothly tousled strands).   

But should Twilight’s widespread popularity really come as any surprise? I mean, at the end of the day, we’re all just looking for a well-written, engaging story – and if it just so happens to be a story about a teenager, well, what’s wrong with that?  But what I find interesting about this whole phenomenon is that it hasn’t ended with Twilight. Oh no. The phenomenon has spread, and over the past couple of years, adults across the nation have been walking….no….running to the realm of teen-lit. 

Authors like Suzanne Collins (The Hunger Games) and Markus Zusak (The Book Thief) have converted many adult readers into YA fiction fanatics – and it’s no wonder why. Collins’ massively popular dystopian-romance (and soon to be blockbuster movie) is the kind of book that instantly pulls you in, with a killer Survivor-esque plot-line to boot. 

Zusak’s novel is similarly gripping, although more so in the grab-a-kleenex heart-wrenching sense. The Book Thief is a deeply moving story of the Holocaust narrated by death itself, and some of the best historical-fiction I have ever read. 

More recently, Paolo Bacigalupi’s Ship Breaker has had me swooning, and if you’re a fan of post-apocalyptic lit (Cormac McCarthy’s The Road anyone?), you’ll love this book’s gritty, all-too-imaginable climate crashed world. As you might expect, the gap between the haves and have-nots has become an abyss. Doing everything he can to survive, Nailer joins a rag tag group of workers, searching for copper wire and scrap metal to earn a living. That is, until he comes across a ship-wrecked beauty who turns his world upside down. 

Along that same woe-is-the-world line is Patrick Ness’ The Knife of Never Letting Go. This fantastic book will have you reading through your dinner with its non-stop action and riveting cliff-hangers that are so well-written, they’d make even Dan Brown drool. In New World, everyone can hear everyone else’s thoughts in an overwhelming, never-ending stream of Noise. But when Todd discovers an area of complete silence, he uncovers a secret so awful, he is forced to run for his life.  

Even authors who normally write for adults are jumping on the teen-lit bandwagon – and can you blame them? I mean, who wouldn’t want to cash in on this booming lucrative market!? James Patterson did it first, back in 2005 with his YA adventure series Maximum Ride, and has since published a handful more.  Crime writer Kathy Reichs is now writing for teens (Virals series), along with Canadian fantasy author Kelley Armstrong (Darkest Powers trilogy, Darkness Rising trilogy), mystery writer Harlan Coben (Shelter), and well-known fantasy author Richelle Mead (Vampire Academy series), among others. If you’ve read any of these authors’ “grown-up books,” you’ll have no problem slipping into their teen-lit creations. And hey, you may just find that you like them even better!      

Clearly, you’re missing out if you haven’t checked out a book from the Library’s Teen Department lately. So why not give these books a spin the next time you’re looking for a good read! There’s so much out there beyond Stephanie Meyer, even if you are a Twihard who curled your hair this morning using your Twilight curling iron.

- Lindsay

Food for Thought

 

     As Sir Francis Bacon observed: “Some books are to be tasted, others to be swallowed, and some few to be chewed and digested…” and as someone who gets cravings for books as well as food this is an apt quotation. Just as my balanced food diet has room for a little bit of everything, so too does the food for my mind.

When I’m looking for a light, pleasant, snack kind of read, I turn to  Janet Evanovich. Her books are sometimes sweet, sometimes salty, but always fun,kind of like trail mix. They’re a great little cognitive coffee break, and the laughter that results from reading her books refuels me.

An author like Kelley Armstrong provides a more substantial read, more like a meal. With her gift for creating inhuman characters like   werewolves and witches, with very human personalities and problems, her books are a great choice for times when I want more than a quick bite,   something like a really good hamburger and fries. Nothing upscale, just good solid entertainment.

When being an adult is just too hard, I turn to the books I read as a child, my emotional comfort foods. Re-reading A Little Princess and befriending a rat with Sarah Crewe, being Anne Shirley’s bosom friend again, or going through the wardrobe with Lucy are my mental equivalents of mashed potatoes or macaroni and cheese. Heavy on the happy endings and the carbs, but soothing to the stomach and soul.

Other authors require more attention, in order to savour the multi-course presentation of characters, descriptions and dialogue. Much like savouring a meal in a good restaurant I don’t want to rush through the chapters.  An author   like Charles De Lint feeds that hunger very well. I find myself reading more slowly, lingering over the text, to experience every nuance of flavour, to put off as long as possible the moment when the last page is turned, and I have to leave and take part in the real world again.

And then there are books like Thinking of Answers: Questions in the Philosophy of Everyday Life which is a gourmet feast – so rich with ideas and concepts that it must be read one essay at a sitting and chewed over thoroughly in my brain, or else my intellectual palate becomes overwhelmed and mental indigestion results. Some of the ideas presented by A. C. Grayling seem odd, incompatible or downright disagreeable at first taste, like trying an exotic new dish. But, like an unusual new taste, the ideas linger, and infuse my ordinary mindset with something exciting and new.

French fries or French cuisine, brain candy or brain fiber, every book and every meal brings its own pleasures. However, the advantage to reading is that each and every book you read contains absolutely no fat, calories or cholesterol in each serving, er, chapter.

-Lori

Upcoming Books to the Screen…

We know the books are ‘better’ but seeing the movie version often enhances our understanding of the story, its characters and the subtle relationships between all the parts. And they give us another delicious chance to relive the great novel we just read. But which books adapted for the screen are coming to the movieplex or your stay-at-home theatre? Maybe we can read before we see (or do you like reading the book after the movie?).

A widely read book that is just out in theatres is the movie version of Kathryn Stockett’s The Help. Set in the South in the early ’60s, it’s the story of three African American women who work as household maids in rich white homes. Wikipedia explains: “The stories of the three women intertwine to explain how life in Jackson, Mississippi revolves around ‘the help’, with complex relations of power, money, emotion, and intimacy typing together the white and black families of Jackson.”

The Hedgehog is an intriguing subtitled French comedy-drama about Paloma, a really bored 11-year-old who decides to kill herself on her birthday. Adapted from the best-seller The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery, the pessimist child, you may be happy to note, questions her dour fate after entering unlikely friendships with her offbeat concierge and a neighbour.

I love a good spy thriller, so the film version of John Le Carré’s Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy is much anticipated. “In the bleak days of the Cold War, espionage veteran George Smiley is forced from semi-retirement to uncover a Soviet agent within MI6′s echelons.” Gary Oldman, Colin Firth and the amazing Benedict Cumberbatch star, among others. For curious minds everywhere, can you beat a movie where no one should be trusted, and everyone is a suspect? I like the movie’s tagline: “How do you find an enemy who is hidden right before your eyes?”

On a more sensitive and heart-rending topic, we can look forward to the movie version, starring John C. Reilly and Tilda Swinton, of We Need to Talk About Kevin by Lionel Shriver. “The mother of a teenage boy who went on a high-school killing spree tries to deal with her grief — and feelings of responsibility for her child’s actions — by writing to her estranged husband.” Think bullies at school turning your kid into a monster. Yikes!

The Descendents starring the ineffable George Clooney looks promising, and is due in theatres in late fall. Based on the novel by Kaui Hart Hemmings, it’s the dramatic story of a father trying to reconnect with his two daughters after his estranged wife is left on life-support after a boating accident. A study of the impossible, parenting — the proverbial generational gap — while dealing with grief.

The movie Carnage, based on the play God of Carnage by Yasmina Reza, “tells the story of two sets of parents who decide to have a cordial meeting after their sons are involved in a schoolyard brawl.” This battle of wills is a lot more about the parents and spouses than the scrapping kids. Directed by Roman Polanski, and stars Jodie Foster and Kate Winslet.

These are just a few selections, but more are in the works. Books being turned into movies for release in 2012 include Yann Martel’s engaging Life of Pi, and The Hobbit by some guy named J.R.R. Tolkien. Heard he’s a pretty good writer!

-Lyle

On your mark… get set… GO!

I hope most of you are enjoying the summer. I certainly am. The sun is shining most days, the mosquitoes aren’t that bad (yet), flowers are blooming everywhere, and the smell of barbeque permeates the evening air. What a great time! I doubt many of you are thinking ahead to the fall, when the leaves will turn golden or brown or red, start to fall, signalling the colder weather to come. Some of us have to. It’s my job; I order the library’s fiction books four to six months in the future. While you probably don’t want to think about raking leaves, harvesting our gardens, and pulling out the warmer coats and gloves, at least there’s comfort to be found in the great titles coming out this fall. Have you got your library cards ready? It’s time to start placing some holds. On your mark, get set, go!

The usual suspects will be releasing titles this fall, including James Patterson, who along with various co-authors, has four new titles this fall – Guilty Wives; Private: #1 Suspect; Kill Alex Cross; and, Christmas Wedding. How does he do it? I swear he must live at his keyboard! Clive Cussler has also been a busy bee, giving us two new titles: Devil’s Gate and The Race. Sue Grafton continues her Kinsey Millhone alphabet mysteries with V is for Vengeance. Other noteworthy bestsellers include: Only Time Will Tell by Jeffrey Archer, Zero Day by David Baldacci, Accident by Linwood Barclay, Lethal by Sandra Brown, Death of Kings by Bernard Cornwell, The Dovekeepers by Alice Hoffman, Bonnie by Iris Johansen, 1225 Christmas Tree Lane by Debbie Macomber,  A Trick of the Light by Louise Penny, Forgotten Affairs of Youth by Alexander McCall Smith, and 11/22/63 by Stephen King. I could go on and on, but I don’t think our blog editors would appreciate that!

There are a number of titles I’m quite anxious to read myself. Some of them will undoubtedly be bestsellers, while others will be quietly enjoyed by a smaller audience. Either way, I think this list has a little something for everyone:

Guillermo Del Toro’s Night Eternal is the third and final book in his Strain trilogy about a vampire invasion, following The Fall. Nuclear Winter blankets the land, darkening the Earth for 23 hours a day. Vampires control the planet; the defeated humans have been interred in vast camps and are harvested for the sustenance of the Master Race. But not all have been contained. A ragtag network of humans roams free, continuing the desperate resistance. As the final battle dawns, the group’s only hope is the intervention of an unexpected race of beings – avenging “angels.”

Out of Oz, by Gregory Macguire, concludes the extraordinary series The Wicked Years, following Lion Among Men. The marvellous land of Oz is knotted with social unrest – the Emerald Cityis mounting an invasion of Munchkinland, Glinda is under house arrest, and the Cowardly Lion is on the run from the law. And here comes Dorothy. Amid all this chaos, Elphaba’s tiny green baby born at the close of Son of a Witch has come of age. Now, Rain will take up her broom in an Oz wracked by war. 

Ami McKay’s Virgin Cure has been much anticipated, and it won’t disappoint. Set in Victorian New York in the year 1871, as a crowded, sweltering summer of riots and poverty comes to a close, 12-year-old Moth’s journey is just beginning. Sold away by her mother, Moth becomes a pickpocket on the streets of the Lower East Sideand becomes involved in a world of danger and violence. The Virgin Cure is a tale of secrets and truths, of dark myths and magic of the heart – of one woman’s fight to be heard, and one girl’s desire to be loved. 

A Bitter Truth, by Charles Todd, is the third novel in the Bess Crawford series, following An Impartial Witness. When battlefield nurse Bess returns from Francefor a well-earned Christmas leave, she finds a bruised and shivering woman huddled in the doorway of her London flat. The woman reveals that she has fled her abusive husband – an officer on leave. When Bess accompanies the woman back to her small village, she gets caught in the centre of the hunt for a killer when a wounded soldier is murdered in the woman’s home. 

Arnaldur Indridason’s Outrage is sure to be a hit. In a flat near Reykjavikcity centre, a young man lies dead in a pool of blood although there are no signs of a break-in or any struggle. A woman’s purple shawl, found under the bed, gives off a strong and unusual aroma. A vial of narcotics found in the victim’s pocket among other clues soon lead Erlendur’s colleagues down a trail of hidden violence and psychological brutality, and of wrongs that will never be fully righted. 

Domestic Violets, by Michael Norman, is a darkly comic family drama about love, loss, and ambition. Tom Violet has failed, once again, to have sex with his wife. And that’s not the worst of it. There’s the 9-5 office job that’s slowly crushing his spirit, his lovelorn stepfather who’s in constant need of counsel, and the strange realization that his boozy stepmother is sort of stalking him. Then there’s the inappropriate crush he has on a 23-year-old colleague. Too young to have these kinds of problems, but too old to see anyway out, Tom finds himself mired in hopeless inaction. 

Lee Bermejo’s Batman: Noel, inspired by Charles Dickens’ immortal classic A Christmas Carol, features different interpretations of The Dark Knight, along with his enemies and allies, in different eras. Along the way, Batman must come to terms with his past, present and future as he battles villains from the campy 1960s to dark and brooding menaces of today, while exploring what it means to be the hero that he is. Members of Batman’s supporting cast enact roles analogous to those from A Christmas Carol, with Robin, Catwoman, Superman, The Joker and more playing roles that will be familiar to anyone who knows Dickens’ original holiday tale. 

Finally, Terry Pratchett returns to his wildly popular Discworld in Snuff, featuring my favourite character, Sam Vimes. According to the writer of the bestselling crime novel ever to have been published in the city of Ankh-Morpork, it is a truth universally known that a policeman taking a holiday would barely have time to open his suitcase before he finds his first corpse. Commander Sam Vimes of the Ankh-Morpork City Watch is on holiday in the pleasant and innocent countryside, but not for him a mere body in the wardrobe – there are many, many bodies and an ancient crime more terrible than murder. He is out of his jurisdiction, out of his depth, and out of his mind, but never out of guile. Where there is a crime there must be a finding, there must be a chase and there must be a punishment.

- Barbara

Are you a book snob?

"I don't read that trash"

Despite the proverb most people do, in fact, judge books by their covers – and readers by their books. Some look down their nose at people who love James Patterson, or dismiss literary fiction as pretentious.

One theory states this is partly why romance readers were some of the earliest and most enthusiastic adopters of ebooks. The computer doesn’t sneer at you when you buy a romance novel online, and no one can tell that you’re reading a romance novel on your iPhone or ereader (no cheesy cover art to give it away).

Some libraries have hosted “speed dating” events to which everyone brings a favourite book in order to start a conversation. Frankly, that seems like a recipe for lots of people bringing books they think they should like, as opposed to what they actually read, or at least trying to put their best foot forward. If I were single and went to an event like that, I’d bring one of my favourite classics (Middlemarch, Persuasion) or a “respectable” genre novel like something by Dennis Lehane.

One of the best parts of being a Reader Services librarian is that reading literally anything falls within my job description: helping people connect to a book that they’ll enjoy. I might not instantly grasp the appeal of Westerns, or avant-garde experimental fiction, but I need to be open to trying them. This is not a job for book snobs.

My challenge to myself this year is to read at least three books to which I’d normally say “no way!” I’ve already tried a Western (Broken Trail by Alan Geoffrion) and really enjoyed it. Next up: a paranormal romance.

What’s your literary prejudice? And do you have any plans to challenge it?

Danielle