Friday, May 30, 2014

Staff Review: Last Night at the Blue Angel by Rebecca Rotert

Last Night at the Blue Angel by Rebecca Rotert
This book will be published on July 1, 2014.

I had trouble putting this one down, perhaps in part because I struggled to know who the protagonist is - the best kind of story! The two alternating narrators manage to be simultaneously devastating, encouraging and inspiring. Rotert beautifully explores love, passion, desire and responsibility through relationships between complex (mostly female!) characters. Most of the book is set in 1960's Chicago and includes struggles with sexuality, sexism, coming of age and civil rights. The story has a fascinating historical aspect, but is so urgent and heart-wrenching, it is timeless. Read if you love music, US history or asking lots of questions.

~Rachel, Technical Services

Friday, May 16, 2014

Spotlight on Audiobooks

As the end of the school year quickly approaches, and warm weather shuffles its way here, we're quickly reaching prime audiobook season. Whether you're listening to a book you downloaded from our OverDrive or One Click Digital collections as you do yard work, or a CD or MP3 audiobook is keeping you company on a cross country drive, Carnegie-Stout is hear to help you find something good to read!

Our Adult audiobook collections are located on the second floor (YA titles are in the Teen Zone, and kids' titles are in the Children's Room), and library staff would be happy to help you find a great read any time you stop in. If you aren't able to stop by for a chat, you can always use the Personal Recommendations form to tell us what sort of books you're looking for, and we'll create a list of suggestions just for you!

To get you started, I've put together a list of suggestions for you to check out:

Heart and Soul by Maeve Binchy; narrated by Sile Bermingham
Irish author Maeve Binchy is a Dubuque favorite. The pace in her stories is often relaxed and the tone is typically heartwarming and homespun. Start with Heart and Soul, set in an underfunded Dublin heart clinic, this story features a colorful cast of characters that range beyond the shores of Ireland. Audiobook narrator Sile Bermingham’s accent warmly evokes the setting and characters.

Parker was known for his fast-paced mysteries, especially his Spenser series which gave a fresh take on the hardboiled detective. Witty humor and a complex plot are paired with compelling characters. Try The Professional, a thrilling mix wealth, power, affairs, blackmail, and murder. Joe Mantegna (of Criminal Minds) narrates, which provides a crisp and distinctive voice throughout the series.

Though you probably recognize Elizabeth Gilbert from her famous memoir (Eat, Pray, Love), she’s also an accomplished novelist. The Signature of All Things is the story of Alma Whittaker, born to a life of privilege in 19th century Pennsylvania, science is her true passion. Juliet Stevenson provides a masterful narration of Alma’s journey through life and love that captures the setting.

Fuzzy Nation by John Scalzi; narrated by Wil Wheaton
Scalzi, known for his engaging and offbeat science fiction, updates a science fiction classic, Little Fuzzy by H. Beam Piper, for modern readers. Snarky, unreliable Jack Halloway works as a prospector on a distant planet owned by the wealthy ZaraCorp, but the find of Jack's career quickly turns out to be worth more than his life. Wil Wheaton's (yes, that Wil Wheaton) wry narration is a great match for Jack.

In 1962, an Italian innkeeper falls for an American starlet, an affair that is rekindled 50 years later. An upbeat and engaging novel for fans of character-driven literary romances. Narrator Edoardo Ballerini’s Italian accent and crisp delivery clearly captures the magic of this story.

(Biog Ian) Grammy winner Janis Ian narrates her autobiography, which borrows its title from her famous song, “Society’s Child.” A fascinating behind the scenes look at the music world from the 1960s to today that incorporates Ian’s music, bringing an additional depth to the recording. Some of Ian's music is available for download through our Freegal collection as well (though not "Society's Child").

An epic family saga tracing the sometimes violent fortunes of a Texas family from the 19th century through to the modern age. The multiple perspectives of this 150+ year history each receive own narrator: Will Patton, Scott Shepherd, and Dubuque native Kate Mulgrew. The narrators add to the novel’s strong sense of place.

An engaging historical novel, The Chaperone tells the story of Cora, small town wife and mother, who accompanies ingĂ©nue Louise Brooks to New York City in her quest for stardom. Elizabeth McGovern’s (Downton Abbey) skilled narration creates distinct voices for the characters, bringing the Roaring Twenties to life for listeners.

A compelling and intricately plotted stand-alone from a master of suspense thrillers, Six Years is a story of lost love and shattered expectations. Jake is devastated when the woman he loves marries another man, but when her husband dies six years later, Jake is forced to realize he never really knew Natalie. Narrator Scott Brick’s gravelly voice is a perfect match for the sarcastic Jake.

Wednesday, May 14, 2014

Staff Review: Z by Therese Anne Fowler & A Wilder Rose by Susan Wittig Albert

Z: an novel of Zelda Fitzgerald by Therese Anne Fowler gives a Lost Generation view from Zelda’s eyes rather than from her more famous spouse, F. Scott Fitzgerald.

A Wilder Rose by Susan Wittig Albert relates the story of Rose Wilder Lane, who should have shared credit for the authorship of the Little House series along with her better known mother, Laura Ingalls Wilder.
The books have a number of similarities. Both are fictionalized accounts of actual people facing similar hardships and share the same basic time-frame from the 1920s through the 1940s. Both are well reviewed, irresistible reads with a common underlying theme: Zelda never escapes Scott’s shadow, just as Rose Wilder Lane is overshadowed by her mother, full well knowing the Little House books would not have been successful but for her editing.  

Alabama belle Zelda Sayre, daughter of a well-to-do judge, meets and marries Lt. Scott Fitzgerald post World War I. Zelda is a free spirit, ready to escape the strictures of Southern womanhood. The couple moves from Alabama to New York to Paris to Italy, encountering Dorothy Parker, Pablo Picasso, Ernest Hemingway and many more luminaries of the era.  Despite Scott’s success as an author and the couple’s glittering social life, the Fitzgeralds live on a financial roller coaster. Zelda serves as a sounding board for Scott’s writing and finds some success on her own, but some of her articles are sold under Scott’s name because he could command a better price.

Rose Wilder Lane has a Midwest upbringing in South Dakota and Missouri. Her parents are Almanzo Wilder, the central character in Farmer Boy, and Laura Ingalls Wilder. The family suffers the loss of an infant son, Almanzo’s ill health and financial hardships. Rose escapes by becoming a telegraph operator than an author of increasing repute. The stock market crash forces Rose back to Missouri, and she begins helping her mother market her pioneer stories to provide some income to support her parents.

These two biographical fiction books have led me to consider how fact and fiction can come together to create great reads. My curiosity will point me towards Zelda’s letters and Rose’s work under her own name. The best reads to me are ones that make me want to read more.

 - Michelle, Adult Services

Friday, May 2, 2014

Staff Review: Orphan Black

Whether I'm reading a book or watching TV, the most important element to me are the characters. I like a clever plot, I appreciate beautiful language, and if a story's set in outer space, I'll at least check it out, but more than anything else, I need interesting characters.

Orphan Black, I'm happy to say, is absolutely a character-driven story. Not that there isn't a fascinatingly twisted plot, but the real treat, for me at least, was watching how the different characters reacted to the story. The fact that many of those characters are played by the same actress (Tatiana Maslany) is what really sets this show apart.

If you don't want to risk any spoilers, this is where you should stop reading, and instead check out the first season on DVD. Not that I'd risk ruining this for anyone with major spoilers! As someone without cable TV, I've been trying my best to avoid spoilers for the second season before the DVD release on June 24th.

Sarah Manning (Tatiana Maslany) has decided to make a clean break with her troubled past (drugs, abusive ex, petty crime, etc.) to regain custody of her daughter. Unfortunately, a clean break requires funds and Sarah is broke, but then, on an otherwise deserted train platform, a woman who could be her wealthier doppelganger commits suicide. Sarah sees an opportunity and takes it, and of course, by it, I mean the dead woman's purse. Sarah plans to clean out Beth's (the dead woman, also played by Tatiana Maslany) bank account, fake her own death, and live  happily ever after.

Of course, this is not at all how things go, and Beth, we quickly learn, is not the only woman who looks disturbingly similar to Sarah. Conspiracy, murder, dark humor, and did I mention how amazing Tatiana Maslany is? Because she (and the rest of the cast and crew) take what could've been another somewhat goofy science fiction conspiracy show (not that I don't love goofy science fiction conspiracy shows) and create something obsessively watchable.

~Sarah, Adult Services