LOOKING FORWARD TO SPRING

Hi, everyone.
This is my last entry on our winter reading blog since today is the grand prize drawing!  This will happen as soon as I finish writing.  I'd like to thank all of you for participating in our 4th annual winter reading program.  It's been fun.  I'm thinking that we might try something different next year, but I'm not sure what.  Please let me know if you have any suggestions by emailing me at epearce@libraryconnection.info.  In the meantime, enjoy the coming spring and look out for our adult summer reading program starting in June!

Rated GREAT:

Innocence (Dean Koontz) *

Rated GOOD:

A Nose for Justice (Rita Mae Brown)  *
The Woman Next Door (Barbara Delinsky) *

Rated OK:

Waiting for the Moon  (Kristin Hannah) *

Rated BAD:

Once in Every Life (Kristin Hannah)  *

*Available at Windsor Locks Public Library

COUNTING DOWN THE LAST DAYS

With just a couple of days to go our readers are still submitting titles!  Here are the lates:

Rated GREAT:

Peach Pies and Alibis (Ellery Adams) *
True Colors (Kristin Hannah) *
The Things We Do for Love (Kristin Hannah) *

Rated GOOD:

Shadows of Death (Jeanne Dams) *
The Street Lawyer (John Grisham) *

*  All available at Windsor Locks Public Library

HEIRS AND GRACES by Rhys Bowen (rated GOOD)

This is the last entry for our weekly and monthly prizes, but there is still time to submit titles for the grand prize drawing on March 7.  It's been fun seeing what people are reading this winter!  If you have any suggestions for changes to make next winter's reading program more exciting, please email me at epearce@libraryconnection.info.  In the meantime, keep reading and submitting your titles!

JUST 8 DAYS LEFT TO READ!

Winter reading is winding down, but of course we encourage all of you to continue reading throughout the year, even without prizes!  ;)

Two unrated books were submitted today, both available at Windsor Locks Public Library:

Ladies Night (Mary Kay Andrews)
Frindle  (Andrew Clement)

FINAL DAYS OF GET COZY

Well, we are approaching the end of our 4th annual Winter Reading program.  On Saturday I will be contacting the winner of our final weekly prize and the person who submitted the most titles in February.  Our grand prize drawing will be held on March 7, then we can get on to enjoying spring (if it ever comes!) and looking forward to summer reading.  Here are today's new submissions:

Rated GREAT this week:

Ghost Gone Wild (Carolyn Hart)  *
Stones from the River (Ursula Hegi)  *
The Sound of Waves  (Yukio Mishima)

Rated GOOD:

American Slavery: 1619-1877  (Peter Kolchin)
Allegiant (Veronica Roth)  *
Insurgent (Veronica Roth)  *

Rated JUST OK:

Lifetime (Liza Marklund)  *

*  Available at Windsor Locks Public Library

LOTS OF "GOODS" AND A COUPLE OF "GREATS!"

A lot of cozy mysteries (great reading for winter!) are on our list today.

Rated GREAT:

Dragongirl (Todd McCaffrey) *
The Blue Bottle Club (Penelope Stokes)  *  (This is one of my favorite books of all time!)

Rated GOOD:

Bookmarked to Death (Lorna Barret)  *
Bookplate Special (Lorna Barrett)  *
Chapter & Hearse (Lorna Barrett)  *
Murder on the Half Shelf (Lorna Barrett)  *
Sentenced to Death (Lorna Barrett)  *
Death of Yesterday (M.C. Beaton)  *
Let it Sew (Elizabeth Lynn Casey)  *
The Second Time We Met (Leila Cobo)
Divergent (Virginia Roth)  *

* Available at Windsor Locks Public Library

TITLES ARE POURING IN NOW THAT IT'S WARMED UP!

I had 17 submissions to review today!  If the cold weather holds off we might have a lot more before the end of February!  Keep reading!

The following were rated GREAT:

Dust (Patricia Cornwell)  *
Raising Fences (Michael Datchek)
On Mystic Lake (Kristin Hannah)  *
Silencing Eve (Iris Johansen)  *

These were rated GOOD:

Never Come Back (David Bell)  *
The Enemy (Lee Child)  *
Persuader (Lee Child)  *
All Around the Town (Mary Higgins Clark)  *
The Hours (Michael Cunningham)  *
NYPD Puzzle (Parnell Hall)  *
Code Sixty One (Donald Harstad)
Roommates Wanted (Lisa Jewell)  *
No Man's Nightingale (Ruth Rendell)  *
Summer of Roses (Luanne Rice)  *

Some books rated JUST OK:

Seduction of Emily (Rachel Brimble)
All I Did Was Shoot My Man (Walter Mosley)  *
Dream Country (Luanne Rice) *

*  Available at Windsor Locks Public Library.

MORE GOOD BOOKS

The Reason I Jump, a one-of-a-kind memoir Naoki Higashida, a thirteen-year-old by with autism, was rated GREAT by one of our readers.

Knit Two, a novel by Kate Jacobs was rated GOOD.

Both of these books are available at Windsor Locks Public Library.

SNOWBOUND BOOKS

Despite the horrible winter weather, including closings, ice and snow, and bitter cold, our dedicated readers soldier on, still submitting books!

The Big Thaw (Donald Harstad)
The Husband's Secret (Liane Moriarty) *


*Available at Windsor Locks Public Library

LAST BOOKS SUBMITTED FOR THIS WEEK

These were all rated GREAT by one reader:

Only You (Deborah Bedford) *
The Rose Garden (Susanna Kearsley) *
12th of Never (James Patterson) *

* Available at Windsor Locks Public Library

SOME SNOWY READING...

We have had a lot of submissions over the past day or so.  Here are what our readers have been checking out lately.

Rated GREAT:

Mercy Snow (Tiffany Baker) *
A Grave Mistake (Stella Cameron) *
The Cuckoo's Calling (Robert Galbraith) *
Good Omens (Neil Gaiman & Terry Pratchett) *

Rated GOOD:

Cypress Nights (Stella Cameron) * (large print)
Brown Dog: Novellas (Jim Harrison) *
Eleven Days (Donald Harsted)
Look Me in the Eye: My Life with Asperger's  (John Elder Robison) *
Girls of a Tender Age (Mary-Ann Tyrone Smith) *

Rated JUST OK:

The Black Girl Next Door (Jennifer Baszile) *
The Ocean at the End of the Lane (Neil Gaiman) *
       (The reader says, "Unfortunately, not what I expected")
The Promise Kept (Robin Lee Hatcher) *
Summer Heat (Mons Kallentoft)

* Available at Windsor Locks Public Library

ALL THINGS GREAT AND GOOD

Today's readers were very happy with their selections!

Rated GREAT:

Island of Hope, Island of Tears (David Brownstone)
Firefly Lane (Kristin Hannah) *
The Great War - in Photos (M. Holborn & H. Roberts)
Mariana (Susanna Kearsley) *  (An absolute favorite of several people on the library staff!)
Mandela's Way (Richard Stengal) *

Rated GOOD:

Murder is Binding (Lorna Barrett) *
Kitchen House (Kathleen Grissom) *  (I LOVED this novel!)
A Village of Outcasts (Kenneth L. Feder)
The Curiosity (Stephen P. Kiernan) *
The Tapping Solution *(Nick Ortner)

* Available at Windsor Locks Public Library

THREE BOOKS WITH MIXED REVIEWS

Here are some of our latest submissions:

Soldat: Reflections of a German Soldier, 1936-1949 (Siegfried Knappe) was rated OK
At Leeds Castle (Anthony Russell) was rated GOOD *
Priscilla (Nicholas Shakespeare)  was rated BAD *

Have you read any of these?  What did you think?

*Available at Windsor Locks Public Library

SNOW DAY CATCH UP!

We've had a "flurry" of book submissions during this week and this the first chance I've had since Monday to let you know what people are reading!  By the way, our weekly drawing will be held first thing Saturday this week instead of Friday because I'll be working then.

Let's work our way up from the not-so-enjoyed books (remember, one person's trash is another's treasure, so a bad rating doesn't necessarily mean a "bad" book!

Rated NOT GOOD:

At Night We Walk In Circles (Daniel Alarcon) *

Rated OK:

Out to Lunch (Stacey Ballis) *
The Apartment (Greg Baxter) *
The Priority List (David Menasche) *  I LOVED this book and would have rated it GREAT!

Rated GOOD:

Mercy Snow (Tiffany Baker) *
Wednesday Daughters (Meg Waite Clayton) *
Sweet Salt Air (Barbara Delinsky) *
Sweet Return (Anna Jeffrey)
Pagan Spring (G.M. Malliet) *

Rated GREAT:

Telegraph Avenue (Michael Chabon) *
True Sisters (Sandra Dallas) *
Redemption Mountain (Gerry Fitzgerald) (ON ORDER)
Mandarin Gate (Eliot Pattison) *
The Beautiful Mystery (Louise Penny) *
In the Shadow of the Banyan (Vaddey Ratner) *
Dark Witch (Nora Roberts) * LARGE PRINT
Run with the Horseman (Ferrol Sams) *
A Star for Mrs. Blake (April Smith) *

* Available at Windsor Locks Public Library

SOME REALLY GREAT BOOKS (AND SOME NOT-SO-GREAT, BUT STILL WORTH READING)

Here are some of the books being submitted this week:

Rated GREAT:

Hissy Fit (Mary Kay Andrews) *
Oscar Wilde and the Dead Man's Smile (Giles Brandreth) *
Fearless Fourteen (Janet Evanovich) *
The Winter Sea (Susanna Kearsley) rated GREAT++ (I agree!) *
The Minor Adjustment Beauty Salon (Alexander McCall Smith) *
Lost Wife (Alyson Richman) *

Rated GOOD:

Children of the 5th World (P.M.H. Atwater)
Flush (Carl Hiasson) *

Rated OK or not rated:

The Price of Murder (Bruce Alexander)
Traveling with Pomegranates (Sue Monk Kidd) *
Sincerely, Michael (Olivia Owens)

* Available at Windsor Locks Public Library

FIRST MAGAZINE THIS YEAR!

The issue of People magazine with Christie Brinkley on the cover was rated GREAT.  Just to make us all feel old, the reader says that "She's 60 and looks better than most 30-year-olds."

(Sigh, from an almost-60-year-old librarian!)

OUR FIRST "BAD" RATING! ANYONE ELSE WANT TO WEIGH IN?

Rated GREAT!

The Year We Disappeared (Cylin & John Busby) *

Rated GOOD:

Never Came Back (David Bell) *
Known Dead (Donald Harstad) *
Damaged (Alex Kava) *

Rated OK:

Forget Me Not (Fern Michaels) *

Rated BAD:

Human Remains (Elizabeth Haynes) *

* available at Windsor Locks Public Library

WHAT ECLECTIC READERS WE HAVE!

The books submitted in the past couple of days range from a literary classic to a dark Scandinavian mystery, bust most of the ratings were not incredibly enthusiastic!

Omens (Kelly Armstrong) * GOOD
Never Go Back (Lee Child) *  GOOD
Mirage (Clive Cussler) * GOOD
Astronomy: A Visual Guide (Mark A, Garlick) *  GREAT
Shadowy Horses (Susanna Kearsley) * OK-GOOD  (This happens to be one of my absolute favorite authors, so I'm surprised at the lack of enthusiasm here, but I guess we all have different tastes!)
Police (Jo Nesbo)  *  GOOD
1984 (George Orwell) *  OK
Hot Ice (Nora Roberts)  * GOOD

* Available at Windsor Locks Public Library

PEOPLE ARE STILL READING!

This was a banner day for GREAT books.

House on Tradd Street (Karen White) *
The Girl on Logan Street (Karen White) *
Folly Beach (Karen White) *

Calling Me Home (Julie Kibbler) was described by a reader this way:
"One of the best books I have read in a long time.  have tissues handy!!!!  So good!!!!"


* Available at Windsor Locks Public Library

More Books to consider reading...

Several books were rated GREAT by our Winter Reading participants:

Volunteers in the African Bush ((Edited by David Read Baker)
The Radiance of Tomorrow (Ismail Beah) *
The Secret Keeper (Beverly Lewis) *
The Souvenir: A Daughter Discovers Her Father's War (Louise Steinman)


Rated GOOD in the opinion of our readers:

Finger Lickin' Fifteen (Janet Evanovich) *
Miss Ann in Harlem (Carla Kaplan) *
Lemon Orchard (Luanne Rice) *


* Available at Windsor Locks Library

THE LEMON ORCHARD (Luanne Rice)

One of our readers rated this novel GREAT!  In her words, "This is a great book, just wonderful!"

Anyone else read "The Lemon Orchard?"  It's available at Windsor Locks Library!

TWO MORE GREAT BOOK RECOMMENDATIONS

The Obituary Writer (Ann Hood) *

I also read this novel recently on the recoemmendation of one of our borrowers and  I appreciate the comment that came from this next reader:
"A great read.  Thanks for the recommendation, Eileen."

Secret of Joy (Melissa Senate) *

"Good book about young woman whose dad dies and on his deathbed tells her she has a half sister that she sets out to find."



* Available at Windsor Locks Public Library

TWO MORE BOOKS

The Thousand Autumns of Jacob De Zoet (David Mitchell)

This novel was rated GREAT by one of our readers!


Thirteen Reasons Why (Jay Asher) *

"Good book!  I want my teenager to read it!"



* Available at Windsor Locks Public Library

LATEST TITLES FROM OUR READERS

Looking for something good to read?  Here are a few suggestions from readers participating in Get Cozy With a Good Book!

First Phone Call From Heaven (Mitch Albom) *
Fallen Women (Sandra Dallas) * Large Print
Eat, Pray, Love (Elizabeth Gilbert) *
Orphan Train (Christine Barker Klein)  *
Night Film (Marisha Pessl) *


* All of these are available at Windsor Locks Public Library.

SOMETHING BORROWED (Emily Giffin)

One of our readers commented on this popular novel:

A good read.  Kept my interest right through the end.

"Something Borrowed" was rated GOOD by this reader.

Let's keep those comments coming!

MORE GREAT (AND GOOD) BOOKS FROM WINDSOR LOCKS READERS

Books rated GREAT!

Command Authority (Tom Clancey) *
The Testament (John Grisham) *
The Firebird (Susanna Kearsely)  *
Aging as a Spiritual Practice (Lewis Redmond)
Winners (Danielle Steel) *

Books rated GOOD!

The All-Girl Filling Station's Last Reunion (Fannie Flagg) *
Just One Evil Act (Elizabeth George) *
The Vintage Teacup Club (Vanessa Greene) *
Kind of Cruel (Sophie Hannah) *
Murder with Mercy (Veronica Healy) *
Silencing Eve (Iris Johansen) *
The Fever Tree (Jennifer McVeigh) *
A Proposal for Christmas (Linda L. Miller & L. McKenna) *
The Body in the Sleigh (Katherine Hall Page) *
The World According to Mister Rogers: Inportant Things to Remember (Fred Rogers)
Summer Breeze (Nancy Thayer) *

* Availble at Windsor Locks Public Library

SOME MORE BOOKS SUBMITTED THIS WEEK

Rated GREAT!

Thankless in Death (J.D. Robb) *
Hild (Nicola Griffith) *
This House is Haunted (John Boyne) *

Rated GOOD:

Not the Killing Type (Lorna Barrett) *
Animal Farm (George Orwell) *

Rated SO-SO:

Fragile (Lisa Unger) *

*Available at Windsor Locks Library

HOT FLASH CLUB & HOT FLASH HOLIDAYS (Nancy Thayer)

One of our readers recently finished reading these two novels by Nancy Thayer.  She commented that both books were good with interesting, cute characters,  Each of the women in the books (the characters recur in this series) has a story.

MORE TITLES SUBMITTED

Rated GREAT:

The Perks of Being a Wallflower (Stephen Chboskly) *
Miss Anne in Harlem (Carla Kaplan) BIO *
Traveling with Pomegranates (Sue Monk Kidd) *
Hammarskjold: A Life (Roger Lipsey) BIO
The All Girls Filling Station (Fannie Flagg) *
House Girl (Tara Conklin) *  (I read it, too, and I loved it!)

Rated GOOD:

Dick Francis's Refusal (Felix Francis) *
Safe House (Chris Ewan) *
Scone Island (Frederick Ramsay) *
The Art of Racing in the Rain (Garth Stein) *
Fallen Women (Sandra Dallas) *

Keep checking back for more great titles.  If you haven't signed up for adult winter reading, do it now!

* Available at Windsor Locks Public Library

SOME RECENTLY SUBMITTED BOOKS

Rated GREAT!

The Gift of Imperfection (Brene Brown)
A Time to Kill (John Grisham)*
His Other Wife (Deborah Bedford)
Hidden Treasure (Gangaji)
Sizzling Sixteen (Janet Evanovich)*
The Signature of All Things (Elizabeth Gilbert)*
11th Hour (James Patterson)*

Rated GOOD!

I'd Rather Be With You (Mary B. Morrison)*

*Available at Windsor Locks Public Library.

Keep those entries coming!

BETWEEN THE LINES (Jodi Picoult & Samantha Van Leer)

Young Adult book, not a type of story I'd typically read, but I enjoyed it.  :)

UNDEAD AND UNEASY (Mary Janice Davidson)

Excellent way to end the mini series :)

THE AVALON LADIES SCRAPBOOKING SOCIETY (Darien Gee)

An interesting perspective on memory-making and friendship.

BREAKING THE SILENCE (Diane Chamberlain)

Another great Diane Chamberlain book!  Couldn't put it down.  Good way to start 2014.  :)

Don't forget to sign up for Winter Reading 2014 and submit your reviews!