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