Books that had a great impact on our lives

Albert Camus books by Albert Camus
Alexander McCall Smith books by Alexander McCall Smith
Ayn Rand books by Ayn Rand
Charles Dickens books by Charles Dickens
Charlotte's Web by E.B. White
David McCullough books by David McCullough
Gone With the Wind by Margaret Mitchell
The Good Earth by Pearl S. Buck
Little Women by Louisa May Alcott
Mark Twain books by Mark Twain
Nancy Drew series by Carolyn Keene
P.G. Wodehouse books by P.G. Wodehouse
Suite Francaise by Irene Nemirovsky

Some suggestions from the July meeting

The Burgess Boys by Elizabeth Strout
Charlotte Gray by Sebastian Faulks
Devil in the White City by Erik Larson
He's Gone by Deb Caletti
Inferno by Dan Brown
Isaac's Storm by Erik Larson
It All Changed in an Instant: More Six:Word Memoirs by Writers Famous and Obscure by Larry Smith and Rachel Fershleiser
Transatlantic by Colum McCann
Wave by Sonali Deraniyagala
A Week in December by Sebastian Faulks
Where'd You Go, Bernadette? by Maria Semple

Think BEACH!

The Beach House by Jane Green

Disregarding local gossip that pegs her as an eccentric, sixty-five-year-old Nantucket widow Nan skinny-dips in unattended pools and steals her neighbors' flowers before her dwindling funds force her to take in boarders, a change that brings an unexpected visitor.

http://catalog.bernardsville.org/polaris/search/title.aspx?pos=4

Folly Beach by Dorothea Benton Frank

Returning to Folly Beach, her childhood home, newly widowed Cate Cooper, whose late husband's financial exploits have left her homeless and broke, discovers that it is possible to go home again and discover the person she was meant to become

http://catalog.bernardsville.org/polaris/search/title.aspx?pos=2

Beach House Memories by Mary Alice Monroe

A tale set in the 1970s American South shares the story of Lovie Rutledge, who reflects on a summer during which a beach vacation to escape her unfaithful, disdainful husband culminates in a fateful romance with a handsome biologist.

http://catalog.bernardsville.org/polaris/search/title.aspx?pos=14

The Cottage at Glass Beach by Heather Barbieri

Learning of the infidelity of her husband, Nora Cunningham packs up her daughters--Annie, seven; and Ella, twelve--and takes refuge on Burke's Island, a craggy spit of land off the coast of Maine where her mother disappeared at sea long ago. Just as Nora begins to regain her balance, her daughters embark on a reckless odyssey of their own--forcing Nora to finally face the truth about her marriage, her mother, and her long-buried past.

http://catalog.bernardsville.org/polaris/search/title.aspx?pos=34

The Three Weissmanns of Westport by Cathleen Schine

A modern tale inspired by Sense and Sensibility finds financially strapped literary sisters Miranda and Annie moving in with divorcee Betty in a run-down Connecticut beach cottage, where they find love among the suburban aristocracy.

http://catalog.bernardsville.org/polaris/search/title.aspx?pos=40

The Silver Boat by Luanne Rice

Returning for a final visit to the Martha's Vineyard beach house where they were most happy in childhood, three sisters struggle with family memories and discover astonishing truths in a cache of old letters that compels a journey to their ancestral Ireland.

http://catalog.bernardsville.org/polaris/search/title.aspx?pos=50

Maine by J. Courtney Sullivan

Descending on a family beach house won in a bet years earlier, three generations of women gradually impart difficult respective secrets including a pregnancy, a terrible crush and a deeply held resentment for past misdeeds. 

http://catalog.bernardsville.org/polaris/search/title.aspx?pos=51

Amazon Editors' Top 20 Picks for the Best Books of the Year So Far

So far, Amazon has picked 20 books which they believe are the best books this year...so far.  Why not pick one as one of your 50 books to read?

After Visiting Friends by Michael Hainey
And the Mountains Echoed by Khaled Hosseini
Between Man and Beast by Monte Reel
Eleanor and Park by Rainbow Rowell
Frozen in Time: An Epic Story of Survival and a Modern Quest for Lost Heroes of World War II by Mitchell Zuckoff
The Golem and the Jinni by Helene Wecker
Gulp: adventures on the alimentary canal by Mary Roach
The Guns at Last Light by Rick Atkinson
The Interestings by Meg Wolitzer
Joyland by Stephen King
Lean in : women, work, and the will to lead by Sheryl Sandberg
Let's Explore Diabetes With Owls by David Sedaris
Life After Life by Kate Atkinson
The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman
Schroder by Amity Gaige
The Shining Girls by Lauren Beukes
Smoke and Pickles: Reciples and Stories from a New Southern Kitchen by Edward Lee
The Son by Phillip Meyer
Tenth of December: stories by George Saunders
The Woman Upstairs by Claire Messud

BVPL Staff Picks

Looking for a book suggestion? These titles are located on our Staff Picks shelves. Take a suggestion from a Bernardsville Public Library staff member for one of your 50 books!

Anne's Pick: The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri
Annette's Pick: The Shell Seekers by Rosamunde Pilcher
Felicia's Pick: The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks by E. Lockhart
Kathy's Pick: The Other Boleyn Girl by Philippa Gregory
Lia's Pick: My Sister's Keeper by Jodi Picoult
Margaret's Pick: Following Atticus by Tom Ryan
Mary Jo's Pick: City Dharma: Keeping Your Cool in the Chaos by Arthur Jeon
Rosalie's Pick: Confederates in the Attic: dispatches from America's unfinished Civil War by Tony Horowitz
Sarah's Pick: Cemetery John : the undiscovered mastermind of the Lindbergh kidnapping by Robert Zorn
Susan's Pick: The Piano Teacher by Janice Y.K. Lee

50 Book Challenge Suggestions from Saturday, April 20

Here is a list of the books we suggested to the group. If we own them, the link to the item in the catalog is provided. If not, please ask us to interlibrary loan it for you!

1. Twelve by Twelve by William Powers
2. My Beloved World by Sonia Sotomayor
3. Monstrumologist by Rick Yancey
4. State of Wonder by Ann Patchett
5. Johnstown Flood by David McCullough
6. In the Skin of a Lion by Michael Ondaatje
7. Elsewhere by Richard Russo
8. Shocked: My Mother, Schiaparelli, and Me by Patricia Volk
9. Saturday Night Widows by Becky Aikman
10. Chief Bruno Courrèges series by Martin Walker
11. What I Thought I Knew: A Memoir by Alice Eve Cohen
12. End of Your Life Bookclub by Will Schwalbe
13. The Cost of Hope by Amanda Bennett
14. Flight Behavior by Barbara Kingsolver
15. Joseph Anton by Salman Rushdie
16. Z: a novel of Zelda Fitzgerald by Therese Ann Fowler

Spring Books

I have been lucky this semester in taking a Young Adult (YA) Lit class and have come across a lot of books that I would have never picked up had my professor not assigned specific genres to read.  YA is not just for teens and I have posted some other YA books that I really think adults would enjoy as well.

Some of the ones I enjoyed most this semester were:

Divergent by Veronica Roth
A science fiction/dystopian novel, Divergent explores the life of Beatrice Prior who has to choose on her 16th birthday which faction she wants to live in for the rest of her life. There is Candor (the honest), Abnegation (the selfless), Dauntless (the brave), Amity (the peaceful) and Erudite (the intelligent).

If you choose one different from your family, you lose them forever. But you have to choose wisely because secrets are everywhere, scandal is around and you may have to realize that your decision may not have been the right one.

Although not my strong genre, this book was fascinating. It was interesting, adventurous, and really a page turner!

Before I Fall by Lauren Oliver
Samantha Kingston has the perfect life. A normal teen with a cute boyfriend, cool friends, and any material item she could want.  Until one day she wakes up and it is February 12. She goes through the day as any normal teen. The next time she wakes up, it is February 12 again.  Samantha starts out confused and then realizes that this is her chance to change things that have happened, to really be able to go back in time and make things right.

Although you sometimes feel as if this book is going to continue forever, you read it thinking that don't we all wish we had that option? What would we do if we had the chance to redo a day in our lives over again?

The Fault in Our Stars by John Green
This is by far one of the best books I have read in a long time. The audio is really great but warning, tears may flow when you are driving!

This book centers around a really tragic subject, childhood cancer. Green really makes his characters positive and encouraging while facing something so terrible. The two main characters Augustus and Hazel are lovable and you can't help but like them. This is definitely a "you'll laugh, you'll cry" book.

a couple of books I enjoyed

"To Know a Woman" by Amos Oz
Story of a somewhat dysfunctional family, that's the first impression one gets. In reality it is a very profound recount of an Israeli espionage agent trying to regain his footing after his wife's accidental death. So WELL written, and yes, gripping.
( I started now "A Tale of Love and Darkness", so far I'm not disappointed!)

"The Art Forger" by B.A.Shapiro
It is her first novel, I came across it in the NYT art section during the week.
The story is very interesting, based on the looting of 13 work of arts from the Isabella Steward Gardner museum in Boston. The book is not perfect but it sure makes one think about the morality of forgery under certain circumstances.

"My Beloved World" by Sonia Sotomayor
This is the memoir of our Supreme Court Judge. Interesting, well written. One can talk a lot about it!

"The Bookseller" by Mark Pryor
This book brings you in the middle of Paris and has you going for a good "ride" à la Sherlock Holmes!
The writer is British, lives in Austin TX and is an assistant district attorney.
This is his first novel,  he crated Hugo Marston and it is planned to be a character of many more books. Next one on its way.

A Few of My Recent Reads

The Road Home (Rose Tremain)

I had a lot of compassion for the protagonist, especially when he had bad luck and had to pick himself up and start again. I envisioned myself emigrating with little command of the language and no support system and I don't believe I would have the fortitude to completely change my life. This book has given me new perspective on those who leave their families to try to earn some money to have a life that is more than subsistence.

Call the Midwife (Jennifer Worth)

I’d watched the series and enjoyed it but the book was even better (no surprise there) as it filled in details that could not be captured in the series.  Call the Midwife is a look at the lives of lower class Londoners in the 1950s; their extended family units (until the slum clearances split families apart) and their cheerfulness in spite of living in appalling conditions and having lots of children.  I admire these young midwives who delivered babies in basic conditions such as no hot tap water and who were on call throughout the day and night, bicycling through eight square miles of East London.

Mrs Queen Takes the Train (William Kuhn)

What would happen if Queen Elizabeth II suddenly decided to walk out of Buckingham Palace Mews, find her way to the cheese shop for a supply of cheddar, and then to Kings Cross Station for the train to Scotland to have one last look at her beloved ship, Britannia.  This is her adventure and the adventure of those who follow her to Scotland to bring her home.

The Tavern on Maple Street (Sharon Owens)

Maeve Binchy has left our lives but Sharon Owens has entered mine.  This is the second of Owens’s Belfast slice of life books I’ve read and I’m enjoying these light and delightful reads.

The Books I didn't get to mention at the meeting

Of the 92 books I read in 2012, there were a few standouts.
I mentioned "Sacre Bleu" by Chistopher Moore, but some of the others were:

"The Cat's Table" by Michael Ondaatje - I love all of his writing and I'm just waiting for him to get the Nobel Prize for Literature, he deserves it.

"Unbroken" by Laura Hillenbrand - our book club read this and loved it.

"The Invisible Circus" by Jennifer Egan - her first novel and the best of the 3 I read by her

"Waterfront" - by Philip Lopate - a wonderful exploration of the history and current appearance of New York's waterfront.

"The Art of Fielding" by Chad Harbach

"Wendy and the Lost Boys"  by Julie Salomon - the biography of Wendy Wasserstein.  I also read several of her plays after reading this.  And Wendy's two books of essays "Shiksa Goddess" and "Bachelor Girls".

"A Crack in the Edge of the World"  And "Atlantic" by Simon Winchester. He's wonderful and writes about everything - like another Bill Bryson.

"Home" by Toni Morrison - fabulously layered small jewel of a book. I also liked "A Mercy".

"Lots of Candles and Plenty of Cake" by Anna Quindlen - a collection of her essays on turning 60.

I have also been talking up the "Investigator Yashim" series by Jason Goodwin.  These take place in 1830s Istanbul.  Yashim is a eunuch in the sultan's harem who investigates crimes and mysteries.  Very atmospheric.  There are 4 books now in the series.

"Sweet Tooth" by Ian McEwan - one of his best.

"Flight Behavior" by Barbara Kingsolver - I've read every word this woman has published ever since I picked "Homeland" off the shelf of my library 20 years ago.  This one is wonderful

"Ransom" by David Malouf - I read this when I was on my Australia kick - beautiful re-imagining of Chapter 24 of "The Iliad"

I also did a dip into the classics in honor of Dickens' 200th anniversary.  I read "Little Dorrit", "Nicholas Nickleby" and "A Tale of Two Cities".  I would recommend any of those!

I have just finished to very good fiction books.

The Bells by Richard Harvell is historical fiction about  male opera singers in Europe in ancient times.  While somewhat upsetting at times, I found the story riveting and couldn't put it down.  The writing was amazing for a debut novel

Clara and Mr. Tiffany by Susan Vreeland is an amazing story of women's working condition in the the late 1800's and early 1900's.  It is fiction based on a lot of historical data.  It is a compelling story that involves immigrants, hardships and many fascinating relationships in the boarding house where Clara resides.

If you like Harlan Coben....

I learned that Harlan Coben branched off and started a Young Adult series with Myron Bolitar's (from Coben's adult series) nephew, Mickey. You don't have to read the Myron Bolitar series to understand these books, but it does help to know a bit about the characters because Coben does not go into as much character introduction as he does with his adult books.

The first one is called Shelter and starts out introducing Mickey and his friends, Ema and Spoon as they try to find out what happened to their classmate, and Mickey's somewhat girlfriend, Ashley. They delve into town secrets, secret societies, and really creepy neighbors. Myron makes a cameo too!

The second one is entitled Seconds Away. This one also has Mickey, Ema and Spoon as they find out more secrets, about the secret socieity, and try to solve the shooting of a classmate in her home. And...Myron returns!

Don't be fooled by the "Young Adult" tag. These books are classic Coben, fast paced, humorous, thrilling, and page turning. And the fact that Myron is in it...well if you read Coben, who doesn't love Myron!?

Both of these were very good, but Seconds Away was one of the best mysteries I have read in a long time. 

Revert to the Classics

I have recently reverted to re-reading, and for the first time reading, books that are considered "classics." For my book club, I picked East of Eden, a Nobel Prize winning book, by John Steinbeck because I have always loved books by him, yet had never read it.

Goodreads states:

Set in the rich farmland of California’s Salinas Valley, this sprawling and often brutal novel follows the intertwined destinies of two families—the Trasks and the Hamiltons—whose generations helplessly reenact the fall of Adam and Eve and the poisonous rivalry of Cain and Abel. Here Steinbeck created some of his most memorable characters and explored his most enduring themes: the mystery of identity; the inexplicability of love; and the murderous consequences of love’s absence.

East of Eden does play on the Cain and Abel story. You can clearly see the grappling between good and evil throughout the book, and you even come to have compassion  and empathy (some) for both sides. You can see throughout the book that the good, and the evil share in the brutality, drama, and sin. 

However, it also is a warm and touching story about family and friends, how their lives intertwine, and what they would do for each other. 

It is not a short book but if you are looking to head back to classics, this is a wonderful read!