Staff Picks Blog
Staff-recommended reading from the KPL catalog.
After witnessing a bank robbery and foiling the suspect in his attempt to get away, nineteen-year-old cab driver, Ed Kennedy, who has always had very little ambition to make anything of his life, starts receiving mysterious messages written on playing cards. He ultimately figures out he has been chosen, for some unknown reason, to enter into the lives of various people in his small town, and as a result changing their lives—and his own—forever.
I Am the Messenger, by award-winning author Markus Zusak, is one of those titles that I wished could go on and on. Although I finished reading the book several days ago, I actually miss Ed and his friends, so poignantly brought to life via Zusak's hand. Ed's reactions to the events happening in his life--and the questions they raise for his future--take on human features that actually make them seem like primary characters. And there was something about that style of writing that made the actual experience of reading the book feel like a big hug. What could be better?
Book
I Am the Messenger
0375830995
Read the title of this book very carefully. It’s not about a prominent search engine. No, it’s about a style of architecture named for a Los Angeles restaurant that was built in 1949. Buildings that went up during the middle of the 20th century were comprised of lots of steel and glass in rather severe angular shapes. One area example of this is the early-1960s Dawn Donuts at 6225 S. Westnedge in Portage, which later became the southern office of McKenzie’s Bakery and is still standing. Author Alan Hess presents a survey of this type of architecture along with some colorful photographs that capture not only the buildings themselves but also how this style seeped into the design of automobiles, signage, and the advertising of the day. Hess evokes nostalgia since much of the American architecture in this style has been lost; however, it’s gratifying that the preservation community is now trying to save some good examples of it. Printed on quality paper, this book is worthwhile even if all one does is look at the pictures. This is only one example of a very appealing book that I saw here at the library and just HAD to buy my own copy.
Book
Googie : fifties coffee shop architecture
0877013349
How do you make someone suffering from breast cancer laugh? That is the assignment a floundering ad agency in Chicago is given in Joshua Ferris' first novel Then We Came to the End. Making us laugh at bad situations is a trick Ferris pulls off over and over again. There are definitely situations when you are thinking that there is nothing funny about this and then you will find yourself laughing. If you need some comic relief in these bad economic times, try this novel which the New York Times Book Review rated one of the ten best books of 2007. It is definitely in my top ten for 2008.
Book
Then We Came to the End
0316016381
I have never been much of a classics reader, but recently, after once again viewing a couple of my favorite movies, Sense and Sensibility and Pride and Prejudice, I decided it was time to read something by Jane Austen. I chose Emma, the story of a confident young woman who generously attempts to manage the life of a friend and discovers that there were some things about her own life that needed her attention.
It was a lovely, humorous story. I found it especially interesting, after years of reading historically set novels, to read something actually written almost two hundred years ago. The basic plot could adapt to any time period, but the early19th century language gave the novel special appeal for me.
I don’t know if I am now ready to be an all out classics reader, but I am looking forward to my next Jane Austen book. I am moving on to Persuasion just in time for the Library’s Classics Revisited book discussion of it in November.
Book
Emma
0141439580
Most comic book geeks (myself included) were thrilled at the sight of the trailer for Watchmen at the opening of The Dark Knight a few weeks ago. However, I'm more than a little wary of the upcoming adaptation, as spectacular as the trailer looks. Considered unfilmable ever since it's 1986 serialization, Watchmen isn't just a comic book, it's a meta-commentary on the very idea of superhero comics and presents some real challenges to a filmed version.
On a surface level, it's exactly what it appears to be: Set in an alternate 1985 where costumed superheroes actually exist and the United States and Soviet Union are perched at the brink of all-out nuclear war, Watchmen begins as a simple investigation into the murder of a superhero and ends up (in true comic book fashion) leading to a far more sinister conclusion. On a deeper level, however, Watchmen deconstructs the entire superhero genre and readers' preconceptions of how comics work: The "heroes" of the story are either impotent or psychotic, the villain's actions are driven by fundamentally noble desires, and the only character with truly superhuman powers is completely detached from the rest of humanity. Stuffed full of circular and self-referential passages, and written in a gritty, morally ambiguous style, Watchmen transformed mainstream comics almost overnight.
The biggest problem with a Watchmen movie lies in the idea that the story functions as a commentary of comics using the comics medium itself. It remains to be seen if the filmmakers can pull off the same trick with the film medium.
Book
Watchmen
0930289234
Ellen Gilchrist is writing about her usual cast of characters, the women of the Hand family. However, the tone of this outing into Hand family lore is slightly darker that in her earlier titles. In the beginning the Hand women are all headed toward North Carolina for a cousin's wedding, but instead of a wedding, they attend a funeral, as the fiance was killed in the World Trade Center on Sept. 11. In one way on another the events of 9/11 influence the lives of all the female cousins. Three of them fall in love and marry men who will eventually be involved in the Iraq War. There are more funerals and heartbreak to follow, but at the same time a feeling that these women will be as strong as their forebearers. I am making this sound grimer than it really is, because Ellen Gilchrist has the ability to make us see the ebb and flow of everyday life in a very pleasurable way. We are left with the women struggling on, with perhaps further adventures of the New Orleans Hands. The last entry in the book reads: "Aug. 27, 2005 -- Major hurricane forming in the Gulf of Mexico." One supposes that Katrina is a story for another novel.
Book
A Dangerous Age
9781565125421
Covering the mid-19th century to the present, American Earth: Environmental Writing Since Thoreau is a fantastic anthology of environmental writing in this country. The pieces, skillfully selected and introduced by eminent environmental writer Bill McKibben, offer not only a view of the always evolving flavor of environmental thought in the United States, but as McKibben puts it, “America’s most distinctive contribution to the world’s literature”. Selections from over 100 writers, from the pillars Henry David Thoreau and John Muir to contemporary writers like Barbara Kingsolver and Paul Hawken, provide a wonderfully diverse collection of readings about our natural world.
Book
American Earth: Environmental Writing Since Thoreau
9781598530209
If you enjoyed the 2007 Academy Award winning film No Country For Old Men, perhaps you’re aware that it was based on the Cormac McCarthy novel by the same title. Another gratifying read from McCarthy’s body of work is his 2006 Pulitzer Prize winner, The Road. Fans of the novel may be excited to note that a theatrical adaptation is scheduled for release later this year. I tend to believe that “the book is always better than the movie” so I strongly recommend reading it before it hits theaters.
The Road follows a father and son as they travel throughout post-apocalyptic America on a several-months-long journey. The unknown disaster responsible for the destruction of civilization has also wiped out nearly all life on earth. The result is a barren and foreboding landscape across which the duo must continue wandering to avoid other survivors who might mean them harm.
This book is a quick and captivating read, thanks in part to the rough and unconventional style in which it’s written. Deemed "heartbreaking," "haunting," and "emotionally shattering” by critics, this is must-read for any fan of quality literature.
Book
The Road
0307265439
Fenimore Avenue, Cooper Avenue, Oak Openings… around Kalamazoo you can find, if you know what to look for, evidence that a certain famous writer was once much admired here, though mostly forgotten now.
James Fenimore Cooper (1789-1851) best-known for The Last of the Mohicans, often came to Kalamazoo to visit his niece (married to Horace Comstock) and even owned property here. One of Cooper’s last works was Oak Openings, with the Village of Schoolcraft and the Kalamazoo River as its setting.
Cooper’s works have been in and out of favor—mostly out—since the 1840s. Mark Twain’s scathing reviews in the 1890s practically buried him. But I’m finding that The Pathfinder, with its exciting adventures on Lake Ontario, is a thumping good read, and a new biography by Wayne Franklin is said to “restore Cooper to his rightful place in American literature.”
For more information about Cooper’s place in Kalamazoo history, visit our Local History Room at Central.
To learn more about Cooper's life and works, visit the webpages of the James Fenimore Cooper Society , or watch the video archives of C-Span's American Writers segment about him.
Book
The Leatherstocking Tales
0940450208
Alan Gordon has written a fun mystery series based on a fictional Fools' Guild in medieval Europe. The Guild trains fools (jesters) in the basic skills of juggling, tumbling, delivering jokes, singing songs -- everything you would expect for entertainment of the time, but with an ulterior motive. The fools are sent out to various cities as agents of political and social change (fools were given great freedom of speech - they could say what others could only think). The main character, Feste, aka Theophilos, is often sent out by the Guild because of his expertise as a fool; he becomes a detective when a murder takes place either because of political intrigue or greed. The seventh book in the series is: The moneylender of Toulouse (2008). Theo and his family of fools (wife and two daughters), travel to Toulouse with one mission: to get the current ineffectual bishop to retire so that the Guild's choice can be installed. But upon arrival, they soon become embroiled in solving the mystery of a man found floating face down in a tanner's vat, who just so happens to have been seen recently arguing with said bishop. The thing I love about this series is the humor throughout. There is constant wordplay between Theo and his wife (who clearly love each other). At the same time, the historical detail makes you feel as if you are there, traveling with the family and involved with their problems. Definitely read this series in order - the 1st book is Thirteenth night: a medieval mystery (1999).
0312200358
The moneylender of Toulouse
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