The Power of Habit

In The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business investigative reporter Charles Duhigg details the discoveries that have explained why habits exist, and how the knowledge of habits impact individuals, businesses and organizations, and societies. Duhigg explains how Febreze became a bestselling product, how Target uses customer habits to predict which customers are pregnant (and sends coupons before you even know you need an item), how Tony Dungy turned terrible football teams into winners, how Rosa Parks sparked the bus boycott and much more. He also gives explanations for how the knowledge of habits can help us transform our lives.

Included on Amazon's list of the best books of the year so far and recipient of many positive reviews, The Power of Habit is an above-average, interesting read even if, like me, you don't intend to change any of your habits.

The Chaperone

The Chaperone by Laura Moriarty begins in Wichita, Kansas in 1922. Louise Brooks, who becomes the most famous of the silent movie flappers, is just fifteen. Louise is traveling by train to New York City to study modern dance at a famous studio. Louise is already beautiful but arrogant and wild. Her father hires Cora Carlisle as a chaperone. Cora is a thirty-six year-old wife and mother of two. She is a traditional upper middle class housewife with secrets. While Louise is at the dance studio all day Cora is searching for information about her birth parents. She was once Cora X, left at a Manhattan orphanage as a very small girl. When she was seven or eight Cora was sent west on an orphan train. Luckily for her she was taken in by a childless couple who loved her like a daughter. Cora Carlisle is a likable, relatable character you can empathize with.

This novel about identity, decency and acceptance is one of the best I’ve read this year.

Leaving Paradise

Leaving Paradise by Simone Elkeles

After a horrible car accident, Maggie returns home from long stay at the hospital, nursing her injured leg. With unfortunate timing, Caleb also returns home from the prison stay he was given for driving the car that hit Maggie. Since this accident, both teenagers have been labeled “freaks” by those around them; Caleb for his criminal record and Maggie for her nagging limp. The two try their best to stay away from each other, most out of necessity for sanity than the court order. However, fate has another idea when Caleb gets a job working for an elderly woman named Mrs. Reynolds, the same woman who Maggie spends most of her summer helping.

Elkeles does a wonderful job describing both characters’ point of views. Both teens must learn how to deal with their actions and the consequences that follow, no matter how uncomfortable they might be. Check out the book’s sequel Return to Paradise, available now!

Mystery Book Club

The Ruth Culver Community Library’s Mystery Book Club will discuss needlework mysteries Thursday, July 12 at 6:45 p.m.  Books are available on display in the library. New members are always welcome! Contact June at 643-8318 with questions.

Authors to consider:
· Earlene Fowler
· Elizabeth Lynn Casey
· Monica Ferris

People of the Book

People of the Book by Geraldine Brooks begins in Sarajevo in 1996. Hanna Heath, a thirty-year-old rare book expert from Australia is examining an illustrated Hebrew manuscript from 15th Century Spain. The book was first noticed in 1894. After passing through many hands, it was lost in 1992 when the siege of Sarajevo began.

The author alternates chapters set in 1996 and chapters going farther into the past. Hanna finds small clues in the book’s binding, wine stains, a white hair, and a fragment of insect wing. As the story progresses we get closer to the secret of who created the book. Each time is revealed through the action of characters circa 1940 Sarajevo, 1894 Vienna, 1609 Venice, 1492 Tarragon Spain, and 1480 Seville.

Inspired by a true story, People of the Book shows the book bringing together Jews, Christians, and Muslims trying to save the priceless manuscript.

Author Brooks was the 2006 Pulitzer Prize for fiction winner for her novel, March.

Bring Up the Bodies by Hilary Mantel

Bring Up the Bodies is the second book of a trilogy by award winning author Hilary Mantel. A vision of Henry the eighth’s Tudor court from 1535 to 1536. Most of the courtiers are deceitful and dangerous. Thomas Cromwell, the King’s first secretary who came from a common background, is crafty and intelligent. Cromwell gave Henry what he wanted when he organized the King’s divorce from his first wife Catherine of Aragon. Now just a few years later Henry wants rid of second wife Anne Boleyn and her scheming family. After all Henry went through to marry her, breaking with Rome and the Catholic church, she hasn’t bourn him a son. The Boleyns’ enemies, the Seymours, are waiting to push forward Jane, the daughter of the family, for Henry’s next wife.

This is historical fiction at its best, with a large cast of characters, wonderful plotting and description.

The Council of Dads

In celebration of Father's Day (June 17), the Book of the Month for June is The Council of Dads: My Daughters, My Illness, and the Men Who Could Be Me by Bruce Feiler.  As a young father the author was diagnosed with cancer and worried what his daughters' lives would be like without him. He came up with the idea of the Council of Dads, six men from his life he would ask to help be their dad.

This is a touching story about what it means to be a father and of Bruce Feiler's battle against illness.

Mystery Book Club

The Ruth Culver Community Library's Mystery Book Club will meet Thursday, June 14 at 6:45 p.m. to discuss Bess Crawford mysteries by Charles Todd.  Todd writes character-driven historical mysteries. His character, Bess Crawford, is an independent-minded British World War I nurse.  Titles in the series include A Duty to the Dead; An Impartial Witness; A Bitter Truth and An Unmarked Grave (released 6/5/12). New members are always welcome!

Summer Reading

Registration for the Ruth Culver Community Library's summer reading program begins online June 11 and at the library the first day we are open after our move. We have something for all ages!

Rubber Ducky Readers
A NEW program for babies and tots
Read 1.5 hours a week (15 minutes a day with one day to rest or catch up) and turn your coupon in for an age-appropriate prize. At the end of 6 weeks receive a rubber ducky and a bonus prize!

Dream Big Read
for beginning readers through 5th grade
Prizes will be handed out as you complete each week's reading requirement of just 20 minutes per day! Read extra to enter the random prize drawings!

Own the Night
for grades 6-12

Choose a reward for every 2 hours you read, up to 12 hours and also be eligible to win great prizes (like water park passes) in our WEEKLY prize drawings! Every 2 hours you read earns you an entry - no limit on hours!

Between the Covers
for Adults
Read 2 hours each week and be eligible to win prizes in our weekly prize drawings. There are no limits on number of entries! NEW this year: the first entry for ALL adults earns a free gelato at The Blue Spoon.

Library Moving!

Moving day is almost here! The Prairie du Sac Library's last open day will be Thursday, May 31 and will remained closed through at least June 9. Make sure you stock up on reading material before we close!  We will reopen as the Ruth Culver Community Library, with the Grand Opening celebration Saturday, June 16.

Drop Dead Healthy

For his most recent self-experiments author A.J. Jacobs set out to become the healthiest man alive. Over the course of two years, he tackled a different body part each month (stomach, heart, ears, etc.) and consulted experts to maximize his health in each area.  His experiences are humorously shared in Drop Dead Healthy: One Man's Humble Quest for Bodily Perfection.  From wearing large noise cancelling headphones in public and turning his desk into a treadmill to exercising like a caveman in Central Park, nothing is out of bounds. I appreciate that the author is willing to try anything, even ideas that have questionable scientific backing. Much of the advice has been heard many times before (shop the perimeter of the grocery store, use smaller dinner plates), but to me the point of the book was entertainment and I was not disappointed.  

Lola and the Boy Next Door

Lola and the Boy Next Door by Stephanie Perkins

Lola likes to dress up. She isn’t what one would call a girl of high fashion, no she much prefers to walk on the wild side; the more glitter, the more feathers, the more absurdity--the better! Her life is full of excitement, including the perfect punk rock boyfriend, two amazing parents, and a best friend that totally gets her. Everything is going along until the Bell twins move back into town… Cricket and Calliope, two people Lola never wanted to see again. As Cricket pushes himself back into her life, Lola must comes to terms with the feelings she once--and maybe still has--for the boy next door.

Packed with more lovable, crushable, and hilarious characters, this novel will surely keep you turning pages. Though it is a companion novel to Anna and the French Kiss, it is not told from the same point of view. But many of the characters we grew to love in Anna do make another appearance in Lola’s world (more page time with Etienne)!

Mystery Book Club: No Mark Upon Her

No Mark Upon Her, the fourteenth book in the Duncan Kincaid/Gemma James series by Deborah Crombie, is set in present day London. The newly married couple are just back from taking leave to care for their foster daughter, three-year-old Charlotte. Gemma had suffered a miscarriage the year before. They’re hoping to adopt the little girl. Duncan has a 14-year-old-son, Kit, and Gemma a six- year-old, Toby.

Duncan is asked to head a special case that involves the death of Rebecca Meredith, a police sergeant who ends up dead near her racing scull. Meredith had been training for her rowing comeback, hoping to compete in
the 2012 Olympics. At first there are no suspects but soon, more than Duncan knows what to do with. Maybe Rebecca’s killer is her ex-husband Freddie who is also her sole beneficiary. Or could it have been Kieran, Rebecca’s secret lover. Kieran lives near the river with his search dog, Finn. Gemma and Duncan with the help  of their assistants Melody and Doug come at the case from two different directions.

Author Crombie writes complicated stories with interesting characters. Seldom will you guess the killer before the end of the books. Don't miss a discussion of this book at the Mystery Book Club Thursday, May 10 at 6:45 p.m.

The Host

This month's selection for Book of the Month is The Host by Stephenie Meyer.  This is  the author's (known for the Twilight saga) first adult novel.  Copies are available on display in the library.

For a summary and reviews, check LINKcat.

The Other Side of Dark

The Other Side of Dark by Sarah Smith

Katie Mullen has had too much death in her life--her dad, her mom, the neighbor boy who died in the 1800s... Ghosts haunt her every step--so much that sometimes it is hard to pick out what is real and what is a hallucination. While others would likely cry or scream under the circumstances, Katie draws. Everyone thinks she’s crazy, even she thinks she’s crazy. But she never lets anyone close enough to find out why… at least she didn’t before Law asked her out for coffee one fateful day. Although Katie is too afraid to ask these ghosts questions or hear their secrets, Law is not. In fact, Katie is just what he was searching for--a road into the past. Together they will begin to uncover the truth about themselves, their ancestry and a secret from Boston’s history that is buried so deep is it difficult to see Katie escaping from that which she fears--death.

Recommended enthusiastically by YA authors such as Holly Black and Cassandra Clare, this eclectic novel will have you on the edge of your seat! It is a great teen mystery based on real people and a true Boston secret.

The Company of the Dead

One hundred years ago early on the morning of April 14, 1912 the Titanic sank. In The Company of the Dead, the first novel by David Kowalski, Jonathan Wells comes from the future to try to spare the lives of the 1200 people who went down with the ship. It is from Wells’s attempt to decrease the chance of changing the future that he only interacts with passengers he knows died in the original voyage, thus the title.

The reader soon sees that the outcome of Wells’s actions are dramatic. America never enters World War I. By April 2012, Germany and Japan control the west and east coasts of the US. America is divided into a union and confederacy.

In April 2012 Joseph R. Kennedy, a grand-nephew of John F. Kennedy lives in a New York occupied by Imperial Japan. Kennedy is a well known figure from the war between Mexico and the second confederacy. As the world teeters on the edge of war, escendants of Astors, Kennedy and Lighthollers discover the time machine Wells used to alter the past. They make the decision to go back and restore the original time line.

The Company of the Dead is an espionage, time travel, alternate history novel. The characters have interesting lives. Read and see what might have been.

Some other new novels featuring the titanic are The Dressmaker by Kate Alcott, House of Velvet and Glass by Katherine Howe and The Distant Waves by Suzanne Weyn.

Mystery Book Club

The Prairie du Sac Library's Mystery Book Club will meet Thursday, April 12 at 6:45 p.m. to discuss mysteries by Tom Franklin. His Crooked Letter, Crooked Letter was the 2011 CWA Gold Dagger award winner. Copies are on display in the library. New members are always welcome!

Driftless

In Driftless, author David Rhodes shows us that simple rural living holds in it all the complexities of human nature and the cycle of life. The story takes place in the beautiful, geologically significant southwest corner of Wisconsin from which the book gets its title. The fictional town of Words, Wisconsin has not escaped the effects of the fast moving twenty-first century. Many residents have left, and some who remain lament the loss of the past.

We come to know July Montgomery twenty years after he randomly accepted a ride with a Wisconsin farmer and settled in to become one himself. Has he found the human connections and sense of being alive he realized he needed when he rode along to Wisconsin all those years ago? July’s friends and neighbors are introduced with deep intimacy and acceptance. Beautifully detailed descriptions bring their connections to their natural environment alive.

Adding to the depth and timeliness of this story are religion, government, and agribusiness. The characters’ struggles to deal with these both enhance and diminish their lives. The reader is gripped by their struggles and wants all to turn out well. It is difficult to leave Words when the book ends.

Driftless was published by Milkweed Editions, an independent nonprofit book publisher dedicated to publishing quality literature. Check out their website, http://www.milkweed.org/, for other books they have published.

Sister

Many older sisters take their "job" seriously, and in Rosamund Lupton's Sister, Beatrice is no exception. Despite moving from London to New York, she stays close to her sister Tess, speaking and emailing frequently.  When Bee's mother calls to let her know Tess has been missing for several days, Bee gets the first flight home, planning to locate, and lecture, her sister.  However, she never sees her sister alive again.  Tess's body is discovered in an abandoned park restroom, and the police rule the death a suicide.  Bee knows her sister would never take her own life, but can't convince anyone else of the fact, so she takes the investigation into her own hands. Is Tess's murderer her married school tutor with whom she had an affair resulting in pregnancy? Tess's classmate and stalker? The more Bee investigates, the more possible suspects she encounters. If she can't find someone to believe her, Bee's life might also be in danger.  

Written as a letter from Bee to Tess explaining what had happened, this was a quick read that I didn't want to put down. The twist at the end was surprising and unexpected, but I felt a bit unsatisfied. 

The Flight of Gemma Hardy

The Flight of Gemma Hardy by Margot Livesey is a re-telling of Jane Eyre set in 1950s Scotland. Gemma was born in Iceland right after World War II. When she is orphaned at a very young age she is sent to live with her Uncle and his family in Scotland. When the book opens, Gemma is nine years old. Her beloved Uncle, the only one who cared for her, has recently died. Her Aunt, who hates the child for reasons that become apparent much later, is determined to get Gemma out of her house. Gemma is accepted at Claypoole boarding school. She loves schoolwork and is bright, but soon discovers she is a “working pupil,” treated as a servant. Gemma makes one friend, Miriam who becomes ill and dies.

Right before Gemma is due to graduate at age 17, the school closes due to attendance being low. She is able to find a job as an au pair for a young girl at a large, secluded farm. Gemma will be the caretaker of Nell, the orphaned niece of Hugh Sinclair, a wealthy businessman living in London. While teaching Nell, Gemma starts to build a relationship with Hugh. The fall in love and, despite their difference in age, decide to marry. However when Hugh tells Gemma a secret from his past she becomes frightened and runs away from him. She decides to find her father’s family in Iceland.

Your heart will ache for Gemma through her adventures traveling and meeting people, searching for her true home.

Clara’s War: One Girl’s Story of Survival by Clara Kramer

Clara Schwarz was a quiet, shy 14-year-old living with her parents and lively younger sister in a Polish town during WWII. Jews like Clara and Christians had lived there side-by-side for three centuries. Then the Nazis came. Clara’s father owned a small factory. The only people Clara’s father can find to hide the family are their housekeeper and her husband. Julia is a kind woman. However, her husband, Valentin Beck, is a heavy- drinking womanizer with a bad temper. Clara’s father feels his family has no choice. They must hide or be taken into a concentration camp. The Schwarzes and fourteen other Jews dig a shallow bunker beneath the Becks’ house. German soldiers move into the room above them. For eighteen months Clara lived in the bunker and survived. This book is compelling, with no idealization of the Jews or their rescuers. If you read this memoir you’ll never forget Clara Schwarz Kramer.

Mystery Book Club

 The library's Mystery Book Club will discuss mysteries by Peter James Thursday, March 8 at 6:45 p.m.  Author James writes the Detective Superintendent Roy Grace series set in England. Dead Simple is the first in the series. Copies are on display in the library.

The Crown

The Crown by Nancy Bilyeau


The year is 1537.  Henry  VIII is the king of England.  Joanna Stafford,  daughter of a duke, is a novice nun at Dartford priory.  Joanna learns that her favorite cousin, Lady Margaret Bulmer, has been condemned to burn at the stake for her part in an uprising against Henry the VIII.  The king has been systematically closing the religious houses. Even though it is forbidden Joanna travels to London to be with her cousin.  Unfortunately, Joanna and her father the duke are arrested and jailed in the Tower of London.

Stephen Gardiner, the powerful Bishop of Winchester, engineers Joanna’s release, but to save her father she must locate a sacred relic, the crown of Athelstan.  Gardiner believes the crown is hidden at Dartford.  Accompanied by two monks, agents of Gardiner, Joanna returns to secretly search for the crown.  Before long a guest at the priory drops dead in fright after viewing a tapestry. 

This first novel by author Bilyeau is a clever blend of historical fiction and mystery.

Perks of Being a Wallflower

Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky
Charlie begins to write letters to an unknown “friend” on the eve of his first day of high school. More intimate than any diary entries could ever be, these letters take us into his unique world. Charlie is a wallflower. He listens and he learns. However, when he enters high school--the emotional, brainy, friendless weirdo of his class--he is taken under the wing of some exceptional upperclassmen. With their help, his eyes are opened in more ways than one. Sam shows him how to feel. Patrick teaches him about acceptance. Mary Elizabeth makes him believe in what he wants. And Bill reminds him how truly special he is.

This coming of age novel will keep you turning pages. The letters are short but backed with hilarious, devastating and emotionally realistic moments. Being that Charlie’s friends are upperclassmen, some mature themes are mentioned and discussed. Watch for the movie adaptation coming in 2012—but be sure to read the book first!

The Wednesday Wars

The Wednesday Wars by Gary D. Schmidt is February's Book of the Month selected by Bethany. Copies are available on display in the library.

February Mystery Book Club

The library's Mystery Book Club will discuss mysteries by Susan Hill Thursday, February 9 at 6:45 p.m. Susan Hill writes the Simon Serrailler crime novels set in England. The first in the series is The Various Haunts of Men. Copies are available on display in the library. Please contact June at 643-8318 with questions. New members are always welcome!

June's Top 11 of 2011

 

Instruments of Darkness by Imogene Robertson

Elizabeth I by Margaret George
Darling Dahlias and the Naked Ladies by Susan Wittig Albert 

An Empty Death by Laura Wilson
Flashback by Dan Simmons
Under the Skin by Vicki Lane
My Dear I Wanted to Tell You by Louisa Young
Started Early, Took My Dog by Kate Atkinson
Lady of the Rivers by Philippa Gregory
11/22/63 by Stephen King

Robopocalypse by Daniel Wilson

I’d Tell You I Love You but, Then I’d Have to Kill You

I’d Tell You I Love You but, Then I’d Have to Kill You by Ally Carter

Cammie Morgan is a student at the Gallagher Academy for Exceptional Young Women. She is surrounded by other girls just as unordinary as herself—girls who can hack into the CIA mainframe, speak in fourteen different languages and have a black belt in martial arts. To the outside world they are simply geniuses, but protected inside the halls of the academy they are spies in training. Being the daughter of a famous Gallagher Girl, Cammie has known her future for as long as she can remember. Her admirable ability to become invisible has given her the perfect skills to be a true “pavement artist”. But when she is sent undercover during covert ops training, Cammie finds herself being spotted…by a real, live boy. Suddenly, a new mission is underway, as Cammie tries to juggle her new “normal girl” identity (and being in love) with her Gallagher Girl self.

Being the first in a series, this novel is full of funny and surprisingly relatable characters. It’ll definitely have you wishing you could Cross Your Heart and Hope to Spy (book two’s title)!

Slash and Burn

Slash and Burn is the eighth book of the Dr. Siri mysteries by Colin Cotterill. It is set in Laos in the 1970s. Dr. Siri Paiboun is the national coroner of the Laos People’s Democratic Republic. This is not a job he sought or wanted. No one else was willing to take the job. Dr. Siri is 78 and has been promised he can retire after one last case. He decides to blackmail the officials into allowing him to bring his wife, his nurse, and morgue attendant along.

The trip north into the mountains is being funded by a United States senator. The senator is looking for his son Boyd Bowry, who has been missing in action for ten years. Also coming along with Dr. Siri and his crew are American soldiers, a Hawaiian pathologist and Auntie Bpoo, a fortune teller. Soon everyone is headed to the hills in a military helicopter.

When the motley crew arrives, news from a village near the hotel says a dragon landed there. Soon members of the group start dropping like flies and Dr. Siri must investigate. This is a unique series of books with history, politics black humor and quirky, amusing characters.

Janaury Mystery Book Club

The library's Mystery Book Club will discuss Jackson Brodie mysteries by Kate Atkinson Thursday, January 12 at 6:45 p.m.  These suspenseful and character-driven mysteries starring the semi-retried detective Brodie are set in England and Scotland. The first in the series is Case Histories. Copies are avaialble on display in the library. Please contact June at 643-8318 with questions. New members are always welcome!

The Guinea Pig Diaries: My Life as an Experiment

In his previous books, Author A.J. Jacobs chronicled his quest to read every volume of the Encyclopedia Britannica and wrote of his year spent living “Biblically.” In The Guinea Pig Diaries Jacobs again brings his humor while sharing his various life experiments including attempts to outsource his life to India, be “radically honest,” follow WWGWD—What Would George Washington Do?, and more. I always enjoy reading about the author's experiments with his life and was not disappointed in The Guinea Pig Diaries.