Spotlight on True Adventure: Discovery & Battle of Wits

Nonfiction or True Adventure stories deliver the adrenaline rush of exploration, survival, and discovery, without having to leave your comfiest chair. Though similar to Adventure Fiction (see Clive Cussler), part of the enjoyment to be found in True Adventure are the practical details. Whether it's the tools and procedures for mountain climbing, or descriptions of far off or extreme landscapes, readers will be immersed in a fantastic, but all too real, world.

This is our second post on True Adventure titles. You can read our first post, which focused on Survival Stories and Natural Disasters, by following this link: http://carnegiestout.blogspot.com/2012/01/spotlight-on-true-adventure-survival.html

Voyages of Discovery
The Lost City of Z: a tale of deadly obsession in the Amazon by David Grann (918.11 GRA) Author David Grann retraces the 1925 journey of Percy Fawcett, who disappeared in the Amazon while in search of a missing city filled with Incan gold.

Shadow Divers by Robert Kurson
(940.5451 KUR) The story of two scuba divers who discover an unknown U-boat off of the coast of New Jersey, and their dangerously obsessive 11-year quest to identify the wreck.


Blind Descent: the quest to discover the deepest place on earth by James M. Tabor
(796.525 TAB) Not a tale for the claustrophobic, Mr. Tabor provides a look at the competitive world of professional spelunking from Oaxaca, Mexico to the Republic of Georgia.

Too Far from Home: a story of life and death in space by Chris Jones
(629.45 JON) When the space shuttle Columbia was destroyed, two American astronauts and a Russian cosmonaut became stranded on the International Space Station. Journalist Christ Jones combines the details day-to-day life in space, with the dangerous rescue attempt à la Apollo 13.

The Lady and the Panda: the true adventures of the first American explorer to bring back China's most exotic animal by Vicki Croke
(LP 599.789 CRO) In 1936 socialite Ruth Harkness' husband was killed in an attempt to capture a Giant Panda for an American zoo, and Ms. Harkness decided to complete her husband's dangerous quest.

A Battle of Wits
Agent Zigzag: a true story of Nazi espionage, love, and betrayal by Ben Macintyre
(Biog Chapman) Conman Eddie Chapman trained as a spy for the Germans, but when given a mission to destroy a British airplane factory, he became a double agent for MI5 instead.

Sex On the Moon: the amazing story behind the most audacious heist in history by Ben Mezrich
(364.1628 MEZ) Thad Roberts worked hard to escape his life in Utah and become a NASA fellow, but then he decides to impress his girlfriend, a NASA intern, by involving her in a plot to steal moon rocks. Ben Mezrich is also the author of The Accidental Billionaires, the book behind The Social Network.

The Man in the Rockefeller Suit: the astonishing rise and spectacular fall of a serial impostor by Mark Seal
(364.1633 SEA) When Clark Rockefeller's marriage comes to a bad end, he kidnaps his young daughter, but the FBI investigation turns up more than expected. Rockefeller is not the man he claimed to be.

Flawless: inside the largest diamond heist in history by Scott Andrew Selby
(364.162 SEL) In 2003, upwards of a hundred million dollars of diamonds and other gems were stolen from the high security Antwerp Diamond Center. Though, unlike a Hollywood crime caper, the thieves do not get away, but most of the valuables were never recovered.

Readers may also be interested in our Ann Rule Read Alike post, which includes reading suggestions about crimes and criminals.

Please stop by the Recommendations Desk on the first floor, check out NoveList Plus on the library's website, or visit W. 11th & Bluff next week for more reading suggestions. Or submit a Personal Recommendations request, and we'll create a reading list just for you!

Happy 200th birthday, Mr. Dickens!

Today marks the bicentennial of Charles Dickens's birthday, which has been the cause of great celebration around the world as literary scholars, fans and anyone who has ever enjoyed "A Christmas Carol" pay tribute to the great author. Today Prince Charles laid a wreath on Dickens's grave at Westminster Abbey and later visited the Charles Dickens Museum in London where actress Gillian Anderson (who played Miss Haversham in a BBC adaptation of "Great Expectations") read from the novelists' works. The British Council is sponsoring a global read-a-thon, with 24 reading from 24 of Dickens works in 24 hours, which began at 7:00 a.m. GMT (1:00 a.m. CST).

The celebration has also been the cause for new discoveries and reflections on the man, his life, and his works. Recently, a letter that Dickens wrote to his oldest son, Henry, was reexamined. In it, he counsels his eldest son - who had just arrived at Cambridge to begin university- to watch his spending closely, but also encourages him to enjoy undergraduate life. Reinforcing this wish, Dickens also sent his son 102 bottles of various liquors and wines.

If you've found most of Dickens's work a bit too dense or intimidating to explore, the U.K. newspaper The Guardian created "Digested Dickens" - abbreviated versions of three of Dickens's best known works."Great Expectations," "Bleak House" and "David Copperfield." Of course, if you'd rather read his novels in their entirety, the library carries over 35 works by Dickens in various formats, including TV serials and movies. If you'd like to learn more about the man himself, we also have a list of biographies and of works that were inspired by Dickens.

You can also enjoy a tour of Charles Dickens's world in photographs, a "Dickens" of a quiz to test your knowledge of the author and his works and a wealth of digitized manuscripts and letters from the collection of The Morgan Library & Museum in New York.

Happy reading!

Love in a Nutshell by Janet Evanovich

Janet Evanovich is best known for her Stephanie Plum series beginning with One for the Money. Anyone familiar with that series knows that there are plenty of laugh-out-loud moments and quirky characters. With that in mind I picked up Evanovich's latest novel, Love in a Nutshell, co-authored with Dorien Kelley.

In this stand-alone story, Kate Appleton has been fired from her job as a magazine editor and moves to Keene's Harbor, Michigan to live in her family's summer home known as The Nutshell. Kate plans to turn the house into a bed and breakfast but she runs into one problem after another. The biggest problem is that Kate is months behind on the mortgage, the house is in need of major repairs and she is broke. Out of desperation Kate essentially forces brewery/restaurant owner Matt Culhane to give her a job. Matt owns The Depot and lately someone has been sabotaging his business. Matt is sure it is an inside job and decides that Kate, being new to town, can snoop around for him without arousing suspicion. If Kate finds the culprit, Matt will give her a $20,000 bonus.

I had high hopes for Love in a Nutshell. Having read the Stephanie Plum series I expected some wacky hijinks and quirky characters. I knew that Matt and Kate would end up together and that on their road to happiness there would be obstacles to overcome. This is a romance novel after all and given the title of the book I don't think I'm spoiling the story for anyone. Sadly, I was disappointed. Love in a Nutshell had the potential to be a really funny, nice romance story. If I could pinpoint the one big flaw I would have to say it suffers from too many secondary characters and random plotlines that initially seem to be important to the story but fizzle out in the end. Perhaps if this were the first book in a series all the additional characters and plots would serve as a incentive to read the next book, but as a stand-alone all they do is confuse the story and act as filler.

Not everything about this book is bad. There are some hijinks and wackiness surrounding The Nutshell. Kate's house has a lot of problems spanning from bad plumbing to a bee infestation. She is plagued by an incompetent handyman who hauls around a mysterious blue cooler. The best part of the book is the mystery surrounding the saboteur. When Kate is linked to Matt romantically the sabotage moves from petty little annoyances to more destructive and dangerous incidents. This widens the pool of suspects from those who want to ruin Matt's business to those who also want to hurt Matt personally. I honestly had no idea who the culprit was until the big reveal at the end.

I have not read any of Evanovich's other series or stand alone novels. Out of fairness I have to say I probably would have enjoyed this book more if I read it without my Stephanie "Plum" colored glasses.

~Amy, Adult Services

P.S. If you are a fan of Janet Evanovich and want to try similar authors please check out our Read-Alike blog post here.

Super Bowl XLVI

Are you ready for some football?!

Whether you're a die-hard football fan or not, odds are you know the Super Bowl is coming up. You might even know who's playing this year. The Super Bowl has become ingrained in American culture, from the game itself to the media hype surrounding it.

This year the New England Patriots face off against the New York Giants (not to be confused with the former baseball team of the same name, as I may or may not be guilty of) February 5th at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis. Kickoff is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. CST. This year's halftime show features performances by Madonna, The Black Eyed Peas, The Who, Bruce Springsteen & The E-Street Band, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, Prince, the Rolling Stones, Paul McCartney and U2 (whew!)

And, of course, there are the Super Bowl commercials, the airing of which has become an event of its own. Portions of this this year's ads have already been leaked online, and the debate over the greatest Super Bowls ads of all time rages on.

To help your pre-game prep, we've collected some of the many books the library has about football. We've even selected a range of the books just about the Pats and the Giants, written by former players, coaches, historians and fans. Finally, test your Super Bowl knowledge at the source.

And if you're not a fan, there are alternatives, such as The Puppy Bowl VIII, a new episode of "Downton Abbey" on PBS or fight hunger in your community by participating in The Souper Bowl of Caring.

Good luck to both teams, and may the odds be ever in your favor!

Personal Recommendations

Instead of our usual Friday Read Alike post, we're trying a bit of an experiment on our Carnegie-Stout Facebook Page. We're offering individual book suggestions to our patrons! If you have a Facebook account, leave a comment with a book or author you love, and we'll give you a reading suggestion.

Don't have a Facebook account? Reading this after 5pm of Friday the 3rd? No worries! Stop by the Recommendations Desk on the first floor of the library, and we'll give you a Personal Recommendation.

Be sure to stop by the blog next Friday for our next Read Alike post!