Most days I get to gush about books and suggest titles to eager readers but every so often I’m on the receiving end of recommendations. Many times I can only put them on my mental “to read” list but other times I act on them.
This past summer saw me rush through the Myron Bolitar series by Harlan Coben. I knew this to be a popular series but I just left it alone because a sports agent just didn’t interest me (which is why one shouldn’t judge a book by its cover or the profession of the protagonist). But a patron persisted in telling me to read them — in order! — and I finally submitted to his entreaties. And lo and behold, I liked the books. A lot (well, the last one not so much but still, eight out of nine books isn’t bad). The pacing is fast, the characters are, well, characters, and the sports angle not too overt. Fun, fast reads which make them perfect summer books. But I must warn those who might be faint of heart that the language and violence are sometimes a bit graphic.
So, thanks, John, for prodding me to read the series and to return the favor, let me plug his restaurant, the Alba Filling Station in downtown Alba, Mo. Tell him Carol Ann sent you (and trust me, you won’t leave the place hungry).
Coach Iba delights in bantering with the staff so when he asked me to read a book written by a friend in Texas, I was a bit skeptical. But since he’s gracious enough to check out my book suggestions, I felt I should do the same, so I took “The General and Monaville, Texas” by Joe G. Bax home with me. And let it sit there while I struggled through “The Lost Symbol” (which disappointed me greatly, but that’s another review). And it sat there a bit longer while I made excuses about not reading it.
And then I sucked it up and opened the book. Post-Civil War Texas isn’t my cup of tea, but I plodded on. It wasn’t bad, just didn’t move as fast as I like in my books. But it picked up steam and got better, and then I couldn’t put it down so I could see how it all ended (Coach had hinted that I was in for a power-packed conclusion). I even told him that I liked it, almost against my will. Because really, my sympathies don’t usually lie with ex-Confederate soldiers, but this was a good story and one that I recommend.
I’m not reading the Spellman books by Lisa Lutz, which weren’t pushed on me by any one person, just something I’d heard good things about from different people. And I’m enjoying them. Quirky characters, but they’re not Evanovich-type characters. The first in the series kept me up well past midnight and I flew through the second. That means it’s a good book for me.
If you have a book recommendation, throw it my way. I’m always on the lookout for a good read.
For more about books and reader’s advisory suggestions, go to http://ittsburgpubliclibraryra.blogspot.com/.
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Most days I get to gush about books and suggest titles to eager readers but every so often I’m on the receiving end of recommendations. Many times I can only put them on my mental “to read” list but other times I act on them.
This past summer saw me rush through the Myron Bolitar series by Harlan Coben. I knew this to be a popular series but I just left it alone because a sports agent just didn’t interest me (which is why one shouldn’t judge a book by its cover or the profession of the protagonist). But a patron persisted in telling me to read them — in order! — and I finally submitted to his entreaties. And lo and behold, I liked the books. A lot (well, the last one not so much but still, eight out of nine books isn’t bad). The pacing is fast, the characters are, well, characters, and the sports angle not too overt. Fun, fast reads which make them perfect summer books. But I must warn those who might be faint of heart that the language and violence are sometimes a bit graphic.
So, thanks, John, for prodding me to read the series and to return the favor, let me plug his restaurant, the Alba Filling Station in downtown Alba, Mo. Tell him Carol Ann sent you (and trust me, you won’t leave the place hungry).
Coach Iba delights in bantering with the staff so when he asked me to read a book written by a friend in Texas, I was a bit skeptical. But since he’s gracious enough to check out my book suggestions, I felt I should do the same, so I took “The General and Monaville, Texas” by Joe G. Bax home with me. And let it sit there while I struggled through “The Lost Symbol” (which disappointed me greatly, but that’s another review). And it sat there a bit longer while I made excuses about not reading it.
And then I sucked it up and opened the book. Post-Civil War Texas isn’t my cup of tea, but I plodded on. It wasn’t bad, just didn’t move as fast as I like in my books. But it picked up steam and got better, and then I couldn’t put it down so I could see how it all ended (Coach had hinted that I was in for a power-packed conclusion). I even told him that I liked it, almost against my will. Because really, my sympathies don’t usually lie with ex-Confederate soldiers, but this was a good story and one that I recommend.
I’m not reading the Spellman books by Lisa Lutz, which weren’t pushed on me by any one person, just something I’d heard good things about from different people. And I’m enjoying them. Quirky characters, but they’re not Evanovich-type characters. The first in the series kept me up well past midnight and I flew through the second. That means it’s a good book for me.
If you have a book recommendation, throw it my way. I’m always on the lookout for a good read.
For more about books and reader’s advisory suggestions, go to http://ittsburgpubliclibraryra.blogspot.com/.
NEW BOOKS
NEW FICTION
“Lost Symbol,” Dan Brown; “Perfect Christmas,” Debbie Macomber; “Return,” Ben Bova; “Nine Dragons,” Michael Connelly; “Juliet Naked,” Nick Hornby; “Hunting Ground,” Patricia Briggs; “Keeping the House,” Ellen Baker; “Sweetgum Ladies Knit for Love,” Beth Pattillo; “Book of Love,” Kathleen McGowan; “Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters,” Jane Austen and Ben Winters; “War of the Worlds plus Blood and Guts,” H.G. Wells; “Plain Promise,” Beth Wiseman; “Once in a Blue Moon,” Eileen Goudge; “Thriller 2,” Clive Cussler and others; “Last Pope,” Luis Miguel Rocha; “Sunflowers,” Sheramy Bundrick; “Spartan Gold,” Clive Cussler; “Southern Lights,” Danielle Steel; “Bed of Roses,” Nora Roberts; “Pursuit of Honor,” Vince Flynn; “Day After Night,” Anita Diament; “True Blue,” David Baldacci; “Gathering Storm,” Robert Jordan; “Echo in the Bone,” Diana Gabaldon; “Rough Country,” John Sanford; “Law of Nines,” Terry Pratchett; “Kindred in Death,” J.D. Robb; “Last Night in Twisted River,” John Irving; “Knit the Season,” Kate Jacobs; “Angel Time,” Anne Rice; “General and Monaville, Texas,” Joe G. Bax.
NEW MYSTERY
“13 1/2,” Nevada Barr; “Price of Love and Other Stories,” Peter Robinson; “Prey for a Miracle,” Aimee Thurlo; “Deadly Descent,” Charlotte Hinger; “Beneath the Bleeding,” Val McDermid; “Locked In,” Marcia Muller; “Professional,” Robert B. Parker; “Treasure of the Golden Cheetah,” Suzanne Arruda; “Evidence,” Jonathan Kellerman; “Grave Secret,” Charlaine Harris; “Miss Match,” Sara Mills; “Christmas Promise,” Anne Perry; “Body in the Sleigh,” Katherine Hall Page; “Holiday Grind,” Cleo Coyle.
NEW NONFICTION
“Where Men Win Glory,” Jon Krakauer; “Murder of King Tut,” James Patterson; “True Compass,” Edward Kennedy; “Bicycle Diaries,” David Byrne; “Lost Keys of Freemasonry,” Manley Hall; “Strength in What Remains,” Tracy Kidder; “Knit Along with Debbie Macomber”; “Clinton Tapes,” Taylor Branch; “My Secret: A PostSecret Book” and “Secret Lives of Men and Women: A PostSecret Book,” Frank Warren; “Bright-Sided,” Barbara Ehrenreich; “Secret Destiny of America,” Manley Hall; “Time of My Life,” Patrick Swayze; “Have a Little Faith,” Mitch Alborn; “Traveling with Pomegranates,” Sue Monk KIdd; and “Debbie Macomber’s Cedar Cove Cookbook.”
NEW LARGE PRINT
“Lost Symbol,” Dan Brown; “Where Men Win Glory,” Jon Krakauer; “True Compass,” Edward Kennedy; “Trouble at the Redstone,” John Nesbitt; “Soul of a Dog,” Jon Katz; “Lawless Territory,” Charles West; “Summer Kitchen,” Lisa Wingate; “Razor Sharp,” Fern Michaels; “Last Song,” Nicholas Sparks; “Professional,” Robert B. Parker; “Moon Looked Down,” Dorothy Garlock; “Diary,” Eileen Goudge; “Reliable Wife,” Robert Goolrick; “Wildwater Walking Club,” Claire Cook; “Defector,” Daniel Silva; “Temptation Ridge,” Robyn Carr; “Beginnings,” Kim Vogel Sawyer; “Baker Street Letters,” Michael Robertson; “Plain Perfect,” Beth Wiseman; “Gift of Grace,” Amy Clipston; “Sweet Delights,” Terri Blackstock; “Blessings,” Kim Vogel Sawyer; “Missing,” Beverly Lewis; “Sooner or Later,” Debbie Macomber; “Return to Sullivan’s Island,” Dorothea Benton Frank; “Traveling with Pomegranates,” Sue Monk Kidd; “Midwife,” Jennifer Worth.
NEW GRAPHIC NOVELS
“Scott Pilgrim Series”; “WE3,” Grant Morrison.
NEW DVDS
“House Season 5”; “Grey’s Anatomy Season 5”; “Office Season 5.”
Carol Ann Robb is the adult services librarian at the Pittsburg Public Library.
