The Secret Adventures of Charlotte Brontë

It’s always the quiet ones, isn’t it?  Lest you assume the Victorian author of classic Jane Eyre led an uneventful life, Laura Joh Rowland imagines a much more thrilling existence in The Secret Adventures of Charlotte Brontë.   On a rare but necessary journey from her country home to London, mild-mannered Charlotte finds herself an unwitting eyewitness to the shocking murder of a young woman she had met only a day earlier.  Before long, the authoress is drawn into a world of espionage and conspiracy, and she must work closely with a charming stranger who may not be who he claims.  Charlotte is more than equal to the challenge, and she discovers in herself a strength and passion that she had before only experienced in her heroines, and in circumstances that she could never have imagined.

Sydney Pollack, The Way He Was

Academy Award-winning director Sydney Pollack died yesterday, leaving a legacy of great films and an even greater love of movie-making.  Out of Africa (1985), starring Robert Redford and Meryl Streep, earned Pollack Oscars both for Best Director and for Best Picture.  He also collected multiple nominations for Tootsie (1982), They Shoot Horses, Don’t They? (1969), and most recently as a producer for Michael Clayton (2007).

Few directors can claim the camaraderie with A-list actors that Sydney Pollack cultivated.  Often named as the quintessential 'actor’s director', “Sydney let the dialogue and the emotion of the scene speak for itself,” said Michael Apted, president of the Director’s Guild of America.  Pollack started out as an actor himself, and he continued to make his mark in memorable character roles.  Among his many other directorial successes are The Way We Were (1973) and The Firm (1993).  His most recent release is the documentary Sketches of Frank Gehry (2005).

Standouts Among the Fantastic

The Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America recently announced the 2008 Nebula Awards, and your library has the winning selections!  The much-celebrated best novel is Michael Chabon's The Yiddish Policemen's Union, an unusual and creative story of alternate history.  Ted Chiang earned his fourth Nebula for the novelette The Merchant and the Alchemist's Gate.  In the category of best script, Pan's Labyrinth by Guillermo del Toro was honored.  J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows won the Andre Norton Award for Young Adult Science Fiction and Fantasy.  Veteran science fiction writer Michael Moorcock was named the Grand Master, and Ardath Mayhar was singled out as the year's Author Emeritus.  Each year the SFWA publishes an anthology of the year's best science fiction and fantasy writing, including the winning pieces of short fiction and several runners-up.  What better way to sample imaginative writing that is simply out-of-this-world?

P.J. Tracy

P.J. Tracy is the name under which Patricia (P.J.) and Traci Lambrecht write a thrilling series of comic mysteries.  The mother/daughter team's original whodunit, Monkeewrench, quickly became a bestseller and earned nominations for best first novel.  Live Bait, Dead Run, and Snow Blind soon followed, and a fifth title is currently in the works. 

P.J. had her first short story published when Traci was young, and she established herself as a moderately successful free-lance writer.  Traci majored in Russian studies in college but joined her mother in writing when she needed money for a European trip.  Despite living in different states, the duo keeps in contact through every-other-month visits, phone conferences, and e-mail drafts.  Even when working independently, the two are so connected that they often cannot recall who contributed what to the finished novel. 

My Kid Could Paint That

At the age of four, Marla Olmstead had already created a sensation in the art world.  Her paintings were colorful, complex, and vibrant, and some had sold for thousands of dollars.  However, not everyone was convinced that the work was hers alone.  The Sony Pictures release My Kid Could Paint That documents her amazing success and the controversy surrounding her paintings.  The film was intended to open a dialogue about modern art, but an even more complicated story is presented through interviews with Marla’s family, collectors, and art critics.  Do Marla’s paintings simply reflect a gifted little girl who loves to paint, or are they the end product of parental manipulation and fraud?  There may not be an easy answer, but you will be captivated by the questions all the same.

Three Girls and Their Brother

The adage that one picture is worth a thousand words seems an understatement in the world of the Heller sisters.  In their case, a single photo of the three striking redheads transforms them into the latest obsession in the cult of celebrity.  Three Girls and Their Brother, a debut novel by acclaimed playwright Theresa Rebeck, allows each of the girls her turn in telling the story, along with brother Philip who is unceremoniously pushed aside.  Daria, Polly, and Amelia are catapulted into the life of the famous and adored, but this also marks them as easy prey to those who want to capitalize on their sudden fame.  As their celebrity climbs higher, their standards sink lower, and they find themselves seen more as products than as people.  Three Girls and Their Brother captures the tabloid appeal of being simultaneously vacuous and mesmerizing, and you will find yourself thoroughly caught up in the spectacle.

I Am Legend

Some days it doesn't take that much effort to imagine the end of the world.  The 2007 Warner Bros. release I Am Legend brings to life the frightening idea that mankind's own hubris will bring about the destruction we fear.  Will Smith shines as Robert Neville, possibly the last survivor of a plague that has eradicated the earth's population.  Neville is valiantly trying to develop an antidote to the miracle cure that started it all while at the same time fighting off the feral Dark Seekers who viciously slaughter any living thing they find.  I Am Legend is the third film adaptation of the classic science fiction book by Richard Matheson.  The first, The Last Man on Earth (1964) starred Vincent Price, and 1971's The Omega Man featured Charlton Heston.

The Friday Night Knitting Club

Donna Szwed of the Fiction/AV/Teen Department recommends The Friday Night Knitting Club by Kate Jacobs:

In The Friday Night Knitting Club, a single mother works to raise her daughter and run a yarn shop in Manhattan.  Knitting is her passion, salvation, and livelihood.  Over the years her regular customers have become her friends, and the Friday Night Knitting Club was formed.  Among the members are a wealthy older woman who wants to fill a void in her life, a daughter with interest in the culinary arts, a best friend who returns to seek forgiveness, and an absent father who slowly re-enters his family’s lives.  When the main character discovers that she has ovarian cancer, the members rally round to help.

The story of how this varied group comes to share their talents and influence each other reminds me of the sisterhood from the movie Steel Magnolias.  It is interesting and pleasant reading.

Need More Mystery in Your Life?

The prestigious 2008 Edgar Allan Poe Awards have just been announced by the Mystery Writers of America, and the winners are available at your library!  Simply click on the titles to check the MPPL catalog.

Best Novel:  Down River by John Hart
Best First Novel by an American Author:  In the Woods by Tana French
Best Paperback Original:  Queenpin by Megan Abbot
Best Fact Crime:  Reclaiming History by Vincent Bugliosi
Best Television Episode Teleplay:  Burn Notice  (Pilot)
Best Motion Picture Screenplay:  Michael Clayton

Unaccustomed Earth

  A truly rich and moving story collection from a master of the genre, Unaccustomed Earth lives up to the promise of its Pulitzer Prize-winning author.  Though the title is taken from a classic Nathaniel Hawthorne passage, the heart of these stories is very much contemporary.  Jhumpa Lahiri molds each episode with distinct character voices in the midst of transition: a grown daughter and her father's visit, a husband and wife as they attend a wedding, an older sister and her self-destructive brother.  Each has the element of divergent perspectives, and the second part of the book entwines a young couple's experiences through alternately narrated sections.  Lahiri's delicate and lyrical style holds spellbinding appeal, and these vignettes will stay with you long after the last page has been turned.