Wednesday, November 16, 2011

[Book Review] THE SATURDAY BIG TENT WEDDING PARTY by Alexander McCall Smith

Fiction/Multicultural/Mystery

Multicultural fiction was discussed during October's “What’s Your Flavor?” session at the Central Library.

Becky reviews THE SATURDAY BIG TENT WEDDING PARTY by Alexander McCall-Smith (Pantheon, 2011)

Setting: Botswana Africa - present day

Mma Ramotswe is the owner of the No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency. She is definitely not your typical detective. She follows a book by Clovis Anderson on how to be a detective. She uses skills not only of deduction, but her ability to read people through their eyes, their body language, their tone of voice. She relies on her innate sense of the “why” of their behavior in order to solve her cases, and this one is no exception.

In Africa, cattle are wealth. Mma Ramotswe must solve the problem of a rancher whose cattle are being mutilated and killed. She sorts out Charlie, apprentice auto mechanic to her husband, Mr. J.L.B. Matekoni. Charlie has been accused of fathering twins and his reaction is to run away. Assistant detective Grace Makutsi is shopping for wedding shoes. Grace’s problem is that she talks to her shoes. Her bigger problem is that her shoes talk back. Mma Ramotswe will take things in hand and with the help of Mma Potokwane, who runs the orphan farm, she will succeed with getting Grace married to Puti Radiphuti.

On top of all this adventure, Mma Ramotswe keeps seeing an old friend – just there on the corner, or down the street, but as soon as she gets there her friend is gone. Is it a ghost, or can her friend really be there? With the help of Mr. J.L.B. Matekoni and Charlie, she and her friend will be joyfully reunited. Alexander McCall Smith weaves a story that makes you love Africa as much as he does.

This book is number 12 in “The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency" Series, by Alexander McCall Smith. Start from the beginning and read them in chronological order to get the full effect of life through the eyes of Precious Ramotswe.

Becky Graham, Central Library

Congratulations to Becky and other staff members who recently completed the "What's Your Flavor?" Reader's Advisory class.

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Wednesday, October 05, 2011

[Book Review] A NIGHT TO REMEMBER by Walter Lord

Nonfiction/History

Narrative nonfiction was discussed during September's "What's Your Flavor" session at the Central Library. This is a review from one of the class participants.

Becky reviews A NIGHT TO REMEMBER by Walter Lord (Holt, 1955)

The unsinkable ship Titanic sank in the early morning hours of April 15, 1912. A Night to Remember tells the story of the last hours of Titanic and her passengers, from the sighting of the iceberg to the moment she sank beneath the cold and icy waters of the North Atlantic.

Reports say that Carpathia (the first ship on the scene after the Titanic sank), picked up 705 survivors from the lifeboats. However, at 6:15 p.m. on April 15, 1912, word arrived from the ship Olympic that the Titanic sank at 2:20 a.m. and that the Carpathia was on the way to New York with 675 survivors. The actual estimate of lives lost varies to some degree, but the best seemed to come from the British Board of Trade.

An interesting fact is that the Titanic sent the first SOS, which had recently become the new international distress signal replacing “CQD.” While popular belief is that the band played “Nearer My God to Thee” as the ship sank, actual accounts say that a song called “Autumn” was being played. This song was an Episcopal hymn, but even that has been called into question.

The loss of the Titanic brought two things into focus at the time: class distinction and the uncertainty of anything. For me, as a person living in the 21st century an interesting side note is that married women were known only as Mrs. [husband's full name], and not by their own first names, or as a distinct separate entity.

Websites of interest:
http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/61834.A_Night_to_Remember

http://historyinfilm.com/titanic/ntrplot.htm

http://www.nytimes.com/2002/05/21/books/walter-lord-author-of-historical-books-including-a-night-to-remembe-dies-at-84

http://www.home.earthlink.net/~rlbroberg/Richard/NearerMyGodToThee/TheSoundOfMusic.html


Becky Graham, Central Library

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Tuesday, September 06, 2011

[Book Review] THE CHRISTOPHER KILLER by Alane Ferguson

Fiction/Young Adult

Becky reviews THE CHRISTOPHER KILLER: A FORENSIC MYSTERY by Alane Ferguson (Sleuth/Viking, 2006)

Cameryn Mahoney is seventeen and lives with her dad and grandmother (Mammaw) in the small town of Silverton, Colorado. Her mom? Well, her mom's another story and Cameryn isn't sure it's one she's ready for. One thing she is ready for is her future. She knows she wants a career in forensic pathology. Her dad, Patrick Mahoney, just happens to be the County Coroner and when he hires her to be his assistant, it's a dream come true --until her second case.

A famous psychic, Dr. Jewel, has predicted that the "Christopher Killer" has struck again, and that the body of a girl will be found on a path leading to water. Cameryn doesn't believe in psychics -- she believes in science, but when a body is found just as Dr. Jewel predicted and it turns out to be Cameryn's friend Rachel, murder becomes personal.

Cameryn vows to let Rachel's body speak and to follow the clues to her killer. Who can she trust and who will believe a young and inexperienced girl? Will the new deputy in town be on her side in finding the guilty? What does he know about her mother and why don’t her dad and Mammaw want her talking to him?

Becky Graham, Central Circulation Department

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