Memphis Reads Archive

Fiction/Young Adult

Beth reviews A GREAT AND TERRIBLE BEAUTY by Libba Bray (Delacorte, 2003)

Remember back to when you were sixteen? The fights with your parents? Feeling like no one understood you? Now imagine that one of those fights with your mother ends with you saying "I don’t care if you come home at all." And then, to avoid being murdered, your mother commits suicide before your very eyes.

That’s exactly what happens to Gemma while in India. She is quickly sent home to England and enrolled at London’s Spence School, a girls’ academy that turns out “charming young ladies.” Gemma is immediately snubbed by the powerful Felicity, beautiful Pippa and even by her own doughy, plain roommate Ann. However Gemma, not unlike many other Victorian ladies, uses blackmail to gain entry into the exclusive clique for Ann and herself.

Gemma has a secret. When she saw her mother’s death, it wasn’t exactly an eyewitness account; Gemma has visions. Kartik, a young man from India, follows Gemma to London and warns her to fight off the visions. Nevertheless, the visions continue and one night Gemma follows what appears to be a young child into a cave where the diary of a Spence girl is hidden. The diary of Mary Dodd reveals the secrets of a mystical order with knowledge of the “realms” and of visions like Gemma's.

Gemma shares the diary and the secret of her visions with her new friends. They follow Gemma into the realms and are delighted with what they find. Ann can become beautiful, Pippa has a loving knight, Felicity a strong female influence. And Gemma? She finds her mother. But the tastes of their power and the fulfillment of their wishes—never to exist in their Victorian world—change the girls. How can one taste such greatness one minute and lose it the next?

Gemma knows she is the link between this world and the realms. It is now up to her to rebuild the Order and find out what really happened to Mary Dodd. Where good exists, so does evil.


Beth, Highland Branch Library

Labels: Historical Fiction, Reviews by Beth, Young Adult

Join us at the Benjamin L. Hooks Central Library (3030 Poplar Avenue) as we begin another season of the ADULT ENRICHMENT SERIES, innovative and fun programs exclusively for adults. The first offering, described below, should appeal to book lovers.


Tuesday, January 9, 2007, 6:30 p.m.
"What Is the Best Work of American Fiction of the Last 25 Years?"
A dialogue inspired by the New York Times Book Review article, May 21, 2006. Discuss your favorite book of the last quarter-century with our panelists: Barbara Ching, University of Memphis; Corey Mesler, Burke’s Book Store; Lolly Easley, book club member, Leonard Gill, Memphis Flyer; and Judy Drescher, Director of Libraries, Memphis Public Library & Information Center.

$10 per person.


The backstory: In early 2006, the editor of the New York Times Book Review, "Sam Tanenhaus, sent out a short letter to a couple of hundred prominent writers, critics, editors and other literary sages, asking them to please identify 'the single best work of American fiction published in the last 25 years.'"

Here is a summary of the results. Do you agree with their choices?


The winner:

BELOVED by Toni Morrison (1987)














The runners-up:

UNDERWORLD by Don DeLillo (1997)


BLOOD MERIDIAN by Cormac McCarthy (1985)


Rabbit Angstrom: The Four Novels by John Updike (1995): RABBIT AT REST (1990); RABBIT IS RICH (1981); RABBIT REDUX (1971); RABBIT, RUN (1960)


AMERICAN PASTORAL by Philip Roth (1997)


Bring your favorite book from the last 25 years to the panel discussion on Tuesday, January 9 and let's compare books.

Fiction/Mystery

Alice Kendall reviews THE SHAPE SHIFTER by Tony Hillerman (Harper Collins, 2006)

Joe Leaphorn, retired from the Navajo Tribal Police, has no worries about how to spend his time. Given his years of solving crimes and his contacts in and out of law enforcement, people just naturally turn to him when they think something is not as it should be. Mel Bork, an old acquaintance who used to work with the FBI, contacts him about an old Navajo blanket that was supposed to have burned in a fire. The fire was memorable because the body of one of the FBI’s “most wanted” was found in the ashes. Now, the blanket is apparently part of a private collection and Mel Bork is missing. Enlisting Jim Chee and Bernie Manuelito, who are (finally) married and back from their honeymoon, to do some research for him, Joe does the leg work to see if he can solve the mystery of the reappearing blanket and the missing investigator.

Tony Hillerman’s numerous awards include the Center for American Indian’s Ambassador Award and the Navajo Tribe’s Special Friend Award. One of the joys of reading his books is his understanding and portrayal of the Navajo beliefs. In The Shape Shifter we learn about people who can change in order to avoid pursuit or take advantage of the innocent. Joe knows he’s after a shape shifter, the questions are “What was he before?” and “Who is he now?” Starting this book at the end of the story just adds a little more mystery to an enjoyable read. It also puts the reader in the same position as Jim and Bernie; wondering what is going on. In the end, we are left with a deeply satisfying “Ahhhh” when all is revealed.


Alice Kendall, Parkway Village

Labels: Mystery, Reviews by Alice Kendall

Fiction/Gentle

Heather Lawson reviews A COMPANY OF SWANS by Eva Ibbotson (St. Martin's Press, 1985)

Certainly, one has to accept coincidences to enjoy this warm and graceful novel, but getting past that is not too difficult. This is a slow-paced, gentle romance novel with a great deal of interesting details regarding the flora and fauna of the Amazon. At the same time, details on various ballets and life as a ballerina are a major part of the novel and may be appreciated by those who love this form of dance. So for those interested, here is the basic plot.

Harriet Jane Morton is ready to take any road that leads away from her father, a self-absorbed professor at Cambridge, when she agrees to tour with a ballet company destined to Manaus, Amazonia in 1912. Although her father and aunt care little for her, they are worried about how her departure will be perceived by society. So they enlist the zoologist who they hoped would marry Harriet to follow her and return her to Cambridge.

An important part of the story is what happens before Harriet runs away from her family. In the garden of a beautiful estate, a young boy asks her to find his uncle and send him back to the estate, his former home. He speaks of his uncle, "the boy," relates the courageous and daring stories he has heard about him over the years, and explains how his uncle can save the estate and his troubled mother. Harriet does in fact meet "the boy," a wealthy and celebrated rubber tree plantation owner in South America. Yes, coincidences aside, this novel has been chosen by Joyce Saricks as a "sure bet" for gentle fiction fans in The Readers’ Advisory Guide to Genre Fiction.


Heather Lawson, Adult Services

Labels: Gentle Fiction, Reviews by Heather Lawson

Fiction/Mystery Historical

Jason Ezell reviews THE NAME OF THE ROSE by Umberto Eco (Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1983):

The young Brother Adso of Melk recounts the events that took place when he was assigned to assist the peculiar but well-respected Brother William of Baskerville in the politically charged task of ferreting out heresy in the monastic orders of the day. The two arrive at a small Italian abbey with a reputation for its wealth in relics and manuscripts. In a few days' time, the abbey becomes the site of a tense debate over the role of poverty in monastic life. Brother William's sharp detection skills become invaluble when the bodies of dead monks begin to appear on a daily basis, apparently following a pattern of apocalyptic prophecy. Adso and William find themselves lost in a community where secrecy and enlightenment, superstition and reason, church and state, and power and compassion become desperately confused. The abbey becomes a microcosm of the very rifts that threaten to tear Christendom--and civilization itself--apart, and at the very heart of this strained social fabric is a fanatically guarded library full of mirrors, trick doors, ghosts, demonic visions, forbidden books, and the key to the deaths that lie like a humorless darkness over the entire monastery grounds.

Set during a week in 1327, Eco's novels finds in the fusion of ecclesiastic history and mystery a chance to explore some of the most fundamental issues of any period of taxing social change. It also explores the importance of symbols and logical debate. The stylistic strength of the book is the resultant combination of rich descriptive detail (especially when it comes to the art and architecture of the Medieval Church) and philosophy (as seen in the impassioned debates over heresy). Although obviously literary, The Name of the Rose benefits from being a mystery novel, using intrigue, adventure, carefully executed pacing, and suspense to propel the story forward. A careful balance is struck between the honest depiction of complexity and the human desire to make things make sense. And politics--simply understood as the social use of power--is exposed as all-pervasive in that balancing process. The book has an incredibly broad appeal, being a highly respected canonical work at the same time as it is an international bestseller.

Jason Ezell, Humanities Department

Labels: Historical Fiction, Mystery, Reviews by Jason Ezell

Fiction/Historical

Heather Lawson reviews PRESUMPTION: An Entertainment by Julia Barrett (M. Evans, 1993):

For anyone who has wondered what happened to Elizabeth Bennet Darcy after the closing of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice, there is a sequel. In Presumption, we find that Elizabeth must deal with Darcy’s neighbors and relatives who are not willing to accept someone from a lower position in society. Georgiana Darcy, the main focus of the book, is now seventeen and still has not recovered from her experiences with Lieutenant George Wickham. She finds herself drawn to Captain Thomas Heywood, but is James Leigh-Cooper, a brilliant architect, a more honorable man?

Overall, this is not a bad attempt to recreate Jane Austen’s novels with their light irony, humor, and depictions of contemporary English country life, but readers need to realize that few copies are as good as the original.


Heather Lawson, Adult Services


More information:

Did you know that you can search the Library Catalog for books featuring your favorite fictional characters? For example, a SUBJECT search for "Bennet Elizabeth" will reveal other "sequels" to Austen's Pride and Prejudice.

Labels: Historical Fiction, Reviews by Heather Lawson

Many books are made into films each year. Here are a few films coming out this month that are based on books you can find at the Memphis Public Library & Information Center. Click on the title of a film to view its official website or click the book title to learn if it's available for check-out.

Film: Eragon
Book: Eragon by Christopher Paolini

Film: Charlotte’s Web
Book: Charlotte’s Web by E. B. White

Film: The Painted Veil
Book: Appears in Cakes and Ale by W. Somerset Maugham

Film: Notes on a Scandal
Book: What Was She Thinking?: Notes on a Scandal by Zoe Heller

Film: Children of Men
Book: Children of Men by P. D. James

Film: The Good German
Book: The Good German by Joseph Kanon

Jesse Pool, Highland Branch Library

Coming Attractions for November 2006

Labels: Books and Movies, Coming Attractions

The Memphis Public Library & Information Center sponsors book clubs at many branches and at the Benjamin L. Hooks Central Library. Here's a list of the titles that will be discussed this month. For a book club's contact information, click the link for that branch or call (901) 415-2700.

Book Lover's Book Club

East Shelby
Tuesday, December 19, 1:00 p.m.
Book selection: Shepherd's Abiding: A Mitford Christmas Story by Jan Karon[description]

Central Readers' Club for Men and Women

Benjamin L. Hooks Central Library
Monday, December 18, 7:00 p.m.
Book selection: Color Purple by Alice Walker [description]

Cordova Book Club

Cordova
Tuesday, December 19, 12:00 p.m.
Book selection: The Outside World by Tova Mirvis [description]

Hollywood Page Turners

Hollywood
Saturday, December 9, 11:30 a.m.
Book Selection: Best-Kept Secret by Kimberla Lawson Roby [description]

North Renaissance Men's Book Club

North
Saturday, December 16, 2:00 p.m.
Book Selection: One Woman Man by Travis Hunter[description]
Learn more about the Renaissance Men's Book Club

North Women’s Book Club

North
Saturday, December 16, 2:00 p.m.
Book Selection: Let The Church Say Amen by ReShonda Tate Billingsley [description]

Second Saturdays Book Club

Highland
No meeting in December.
Learn more about this book club

Whitehaven 4th Monday Book Club

Whitehaven
No meeting in December.
Learn more about this book club