Tom Rob Smith

London-born writer Tom Rob Smith just may be the go-to author for people who are ready to move on from Stieg Larsson's Millenium series. Smith's first book, Child 44, bears all the hallmarks of a great crime thriller - enduring suspense, characters who grow with the well-plotted storyline, and a relevant setting of historical authenticity, in this case, post-Stalinist Russia. His subsequent novel, The Secret Speech, and an upcoming publication, Agent 6, carry forward the story of Leo Stepanovich Demidov, former member of the MGB, as he and his family adapt to his new position in the Soviet State security system.

At the heart of Child 44 is the mystery behind a seemingly inexplicable and horrible series of child murders occurring across a wide area of the Soviet Union. A secretive, paranoid regime is unable to acknowledge that such crimes are possible, let alone that they may be connected. Innocent victims face torture, character assassination, gulags and misery, all so that the myth of a perfect political state might be perpetuated. Meanwhile the vicious child slaughters continue unabated.

One man, Leo Demidov, develops the conscience and courage to investigate these murders as crimes of a serial killer. As the author notes on his Web site, "How a crime is investigated is a very useful litmus test for larger forces within a society, the priorities and prejudices of that world. I guess with CHILD 44 I wanted to combine both those elements, the puzzle and the period in which this puzzle is unraveling." Although the novel's child murders are based on the true crimes of Ukrainian serial killer Andre Chikatilo, Tom Rob Smith fits them into his own web of cause and effect, and once again it is Leo Demidov who is at the center of it all.

Smith shares that he was always a reader, loved adventure stories and took them in whatever form they came - mythology, history, science fiction, television, drama or film. Perhaps the author's work as a storyliner for various British television shows following his graduation from Cambridge helped shape Child 44 into a story that would translate well cinematographically. Apparently Ridley Scott, director of "Alien" and "Blade Runner," thinks so too, as he has bought the rights to the book for a future film production.

~Evelyn Fischel~

The library book group Saturday Samplers will discuss Child 44 on April 2nd at 3:30 p.m. in the small meeting room.

Child 44

Bernardsville Library book group, Saturday Samplers, will be discussing Tom Rob Smith's exciting crime thriller Child 44 at its next meeting this Saturday, April 2, at 3:30 p.m.  Look here for a new posting coming shortly about the author and the book.

Saturday Samplers is an open-invitation book group which reads a varied selection of works, including nonfiction, fiction, short fiction and teen novels.  Library staff member Evelyn Fischel leads the group and writes a blog, Saturday Samplers, on which you can access more information about the group and its reading list.

Mind Your Brain

Mind your brain. Stop by the new book display "Mind: Your Brain" at Bernardsville Public Library to browse the latest information on the brain, the mind.  Find books on neuroscience, brain disease and disorder, brain health and associated literature.  Read what it's like to have a stroke in My Stroke of Insight, learn about bipolar and depressive conditions in The Unquiet Mind, key into what happens to your brain when you listen to music in the books This is Your Brain on Music and Musicophilia.  There are many other interesting selections, including The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat and Left Neglected. This display is located in the center area of the library.

You're Never Too Old To Recall Your Past

Harry Bernstein, now 100 years old, wrote his first memoir in 1997 entitled The Invisible Wall: A Love Story That Broke Barriers.  Describing his impoverished youth in a working class English mill town, Bernstein recalled with vivid and painful memories the religious prejudice on his street and within his family which kept Jews and Christians apart. Not everyone was so closed-minded; however, and so a tender love story emerges from this personal history.  How this love grew and what happened to those involved makes for a wonderful story, but it is counterbalanced by the cruelty and oppressive presence of Harry's father and his damaging influence on the family.  The Invisible Wall will be discussed by the library book group Memoirs and Coffee on Tuesday, February 22, at 10:30 a.m. in the Community Room.  If you have read this book and would like to join the discussion, please feel free to attend.

New Cookbooks with Great Photos and Recipes

Finally cookbook publishers are realizing that readers want to visualize the finished product before making an attempt at a recipe, especially one with a lot of ingredients and steps.  The cookbooks shown below, new to Bernardsville Public Library, will not disappoint in that regard because they are heavily illustrated with beautiful color photographs for almost every recipe. 

Try a young Irish blogger's first cookbook, Good Mood Food, for some delightful dishes.  Donal Skehan's book features simple recipes with wholesome ingredients. For a great introduction to coffee - how to brew it in different manners - as well as delicious cake recipes, why not try (what else?) Coffee and Cake by Rick Rodgers?  While you have the oven on, whip up a wide range of cookies from Crazy About Cookies by Krystina Castella.  Each of the recipes will entice you with its accompanying photo.  Then it's on to breadmaking. Peter Reinhart's book, The Bread Baker's Apprentice,  is a James Beard Foundation Book Award winner as well as The IACP Cookbook Awards winner.  In it you will find many recipes and detailed photographs illustrating the breadmaking techniques required to turn out wonderful breads. Lavash, muffins, ciabatta, limpa, and brioche are just some of the bread recipes included in this lovely book.
 

 

Staff Pick: Unbearable Lightness

Library staff member Linda Sexton has written the following review of actress Portia De Rossi's new book, which is available at Bernardsville Public Library.

"I just finished the memoir Unbearable Lightness by Portia De Rossi. I wasn't sure what to expect since she is a celebrity, but the book was written with honesty and courage. The book is about her long battle with anorexia and subsequent binging and purging.  Portia De Rossi also discusses the underlying fear she had that her homosexuality would be exposed to the public.  It is nearly impossible to understand what it is like for someone to struggle with an eating disorder, but she lets us inside her mind and we can see what an unbearable burden it is. Her ultimate goal is to give hope to those who need it and to show that recovery is not easy, but possible. Once again I remember not to judge those whose lives look perfect on the outside."

Reflections on the 50 Book Challenge

The first year of Bernardsville Public Library's 50 Book Challenge has drawn to a close, but a new year means a new challenge!  The kick-off meeting for the next 50 Book Challenge will take place in the library on Saturday, January 22nd at 3:30 p.m., with Karen Vaias once again leading the program.

For those readers who participated in the 2010 Book Challenge, it's  time to reflect on what the challenge has meant to them and how it has affected their reading choices. Several participants shared their insights through the following comments: "I undertook this challenge to actually GET myself reading again, and to think about what I was reading, and to that end, it has been very helpful. What I found myself doing, however, was "cheating" a bit, in terms of engaging with harder, more thought-provoking books."  Another reader notes the same behavior in that she was not as selective in her choices as she used to be.  Perhaps the competitive spirit drove these readers toward books they knew they could finish rather than longer texts.

One reader stated, "I love fiction, but I discovered new books in Spanish and English that I really enjoyed. I had neglected for about 20 years reading books in Spanish, but now I try to read some during the year."  Several challenge participants discovered Young Adult literature to be very appealing, and others enjoyed listening to recorded books (for the narrators as much as for the stories.)  In addition, the simple act of keeping a reading journal proved beneficial to many people. For one participant, reviewing her journal enabled her to see how these reading choices related to her emotional or intellectual needs over the past year. She noted that her books truly reflected a year in her life.

What to Read, What to Read...

For those who like to read book reviews online, there are a number of good resources posted on the sidebar of  Book News and More. Scroll down and look to the left for the heading, Book Links. Among the linkable sites listed is the American Library Association's resource, Booklist.  Booklist Online allows you to read a large amount of free content in an organized and comprehensive format.  For instance, from the current home page you can select "Booklist Editors' Choice: Adult Books 2010" to open an expansive, annotated list of the best books in fiction and nonfiction from last year.  The nonfiction titles are grouped by categories such as Arts and Literature, Poetry, Social Science, etc.  Clicking on a title will bring up publication information as well as a review of the book.  For a deeper search experience, you will be required to subscribe, but this is not necessary for general browsing purposes. Give it a try!

Short Stories Have A New Collection Area

Bernardsville Library's short stories have been separated from the fiction shelves and now have their own collection area within the Fiction Wing.  They are attractively showcased there to make quick browsing possible for our patrons and are marked with special spine labels.  Short stories pack a punch, but don't drag out the punchline. As Polonius stated in Hamlet, "...brevity is the soul of wit..."

Feather Your Nest....

with some nice holiday reading at Bernardsville Public Library.  We have three different displays of books bound to bring cheer to this season of the year.  In addition, a special array of holiday movies has been put on display for easier browsing as well.

Library Book Groups Meeting Next Week

There will be two opportunities next week to join in book discussions at Bernardsville Library. Both library book groups will be meeting to discuss their respective selections, and you are welcome to participate.

Memoirs and Coffee book group will be discussing Temple Grandin's memoir, Thinking in Pictures: and other reports from my life with autism.  Dr. Grandin is Professor of Animal Science at Colorado State University and is a noted advocate of improved lifestock handling.  She has designed numerous lifestock facilities around the world which are intended to reduce stress on animals and improve their productivity.  Dr. Grandin also has autism, and in Thinking in Pictures, she reveals what it is like to live with autusm and think in picutres rather than words. Her memoir will be discussed this Tuesday, November 30, at 10:30 a.m. in the library Community Room.

Saturday Samplers book group will discuss The Invisible Wall: a love story that broke barriers by Harry Bernstein on Saturday, December 4, at 3:30 p.m. in the Small Meeting Room.  Mr. Bernstein is a late-blooming author, having published this biography at the age of  96 in 2007.  He has subsequently written two more books.  The Invisible Wall recalls his youth in a Lancashire working class town where Jews and Christians lived on the same street, but separated themselves according to sides of the street.  The author paints a very bleak picture of his brutish father, oppressed mother, and struggling siblings, and yet he counterbalances this with a very touching love story that indeed broke barriers.

Madame X in Literature and X-Rays

As a follow-up to the Saturday Samplers book group discussion of  Strapless: John Singer Sargent and the Fall of Madame X by Deborah Davis, here are a few points of interest that we learned.

The original version of the painting, Portrait de Mme ***, which caused such a stir at the Paris Salon of 1884, was captured in only one black and white photograph, seen above. The pose of Madame Gautreau with her jeweled strap seductively slipping off her shoulder brought notoriety to a painting which was not well received for several other reasons. Both the artist and subject were duly shocked by the critical furor, and Sargent retreated to England while Madame Gautreau (Mme. X) spent the rest of her life trying to reclaim her former position in Parisian society. At some point, Sargent repainted the strap to fit her shoulder (see image below.) Still believing that it was his finest work, he later sold the painting to the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

By coincidence, two books published in 2003 (with similar book covers) addressed the compelling story behind this famous portrait. Strapless: John Singer Sargent and the Fall of Madame X used historical resources to describe Sargent's career and how it intersected with Mme. X in this one painting. While art historians know that there are many intriguing tales behind works of art, it takes a writer looking for a book subject to bring them to life for the general public. A second writer, Gioia Diliberto, chose to focus on Madame Gautreau, rather than the painting itself, in her publication, I am Madame X: a novel. This book is a highly imaginative, fictional account of an American woman born of French descent whose goal in life was to make a name for herself in belle époque France.

For interesting insights into how Sargent struggled with his composition of Madame X, repainting her profile at least eight times, please refer to the Saturday Samplers blog. There you will find a technical analysis done by the Metropolitan Museum of Art using X-radiography. You can see an X-ray image of the repainted strap as well.

A Freudian Slip of the Strap?

Saturday Samplers, a Bernardsville Library book group, will discuss Strapless: John Singer Sargent and the Fall of Madame X by Deborah Davis on Saturday, November 6, at 3:30 p.m. in the library. 

Strapless tells the fascinating story behind John Singer Sargent's famous portrait of Mme. Gautreau. This life-size oil painting caused an absolute sensation at the Paris Salon of 1884.  Exhibited alongside hundreds of paintings by renowned and aspiring artists, Portrait de Mme ***, as Madame X  singularly attracted the disdain of both art critics and the Parisian public.

Why should this particular painting of a Belle Epoch socialite arouse such instantaneous revulsion and criticism?  After all, Mme. Gautreau was considered to be an exotically beautiful young woman known for her remarkable neckline and figure.  Why should John Singer Sargent's work be so reviled when he had successfully exhibited paintings at previous Salons? Could the artist's placement of her loose dress strap be enough to inflame the French or were there other factors behind their general disdain for what is now considered to be a masterpiece?  In Strapless, Sargent's career is examined in terms of the impact this portrait had on both the artist and the sitter, Madame X.
Review by Evelyn Fischel

Staff Pick: Anthony Doerr's Short Stories

If you are looking for highly inventive, finely executed writing,  give Anthony Doerr's books a try.  Doerr's first publication was a set of short stories, The Shell Collector, which came out to positive reviews in 2002.  Subsequent to that, he published the nonfiction work, Four Seasons in Rome, and a novel, About Grace. He continues to write for such magazines as McSweeney's, Orion, and Zoetrope: All-Story. and has just published a second collection of short fiction entitled Memory Wall: stories.  His writing has received numerous awards including the O. Henry Prize, the Rome Prize, and the New York Public Library Young Lions Fiction Award.

Both The Shell Collector and Memory Wall: stories contain imaginative stories with characters whose foibles, talents, and travails are brought to life in unusual, but convincing ways.  For instance, "The Hunter's Wife, " in The Shell Collector, describes a marriage falling apart as a wife discovers her very special ability to feel the blissful life experiences of those recently deceased.  She does this with animals and later with several people. This diviner of the dead forces her husband to touch her hand as she holds the leg of a doe he has just killed, creating a connection to the doe's receding life force. "Already the doe's vision was surging through her (wife's) body - fifty deer wading a sparkling brook, their bellies in the current, craning their necks to pull leaves from overhanging alders, light pouring around their bodies, a buck raising its antlered head like a king. A silver bead of water hung from its muzzle, caught the sun, and fell."

In Memory Wall: stories characters contend with their memories and what it means to lose memory or self-identification.  This theme is symbolized in the story, "Village 113," by the Chinese town whose inhabitants are forced to give up their homes, community, and way of life so that the area can be submerged for a dam.  The first story in the collection, "Memory Wall," uses science fiction to tell the wonderful human interest story of a young South African boy, Luvo, whose brain has been adapted to "read" the memories of an elderly woman with dementia. Luvo is as much a victim of memory loss as the woman.  "Luvo believes he is somewhere around fifteen years old.  He has very few memories of his own: none of his parents, no sense of who might have installed four ports in his skull and set him adrift among the ten thousand orphans of Cape Town. No memories of how or why."  But Luvo still has intelligence and free will, and what he chooses to do with them makes for a powerful and beautiful story.

Review by Evelyn Fischel

She Would Have Preferred A Letter

Diana Athill starts Instead of a Letter with a reflection on her elderly grandmother's death, noting that this woman had created a family, "a world for us," but what of herself, asks the author, "a woman who had never had the chance, or had missed the chance, to create something like that?" So begins the author's memoir which was first published in 1962 and reissued in 2010.

Instead of a Letter recounts Diana Athill's youth, family life in the British countryside, and an ill-fated love affair begun at the age of 15 with an Oxford student and RAF member.  This passionate union was something momentous for young Diana. Apparently her lover felt otherwise because he left her with no explanation, marrying someone else before he died overseas.   Athill was unable to work through this tragedy, or at least to confront him about it. She writes, "The times when the pain was nearest to the physical - to that of a finger crushed in a door, or a tooth under a drill - were not those in which I thought 'He no longer loves me' but those in which I thought  'He will not even write to tell me that he no longer loves me.'

Memoirs and Coffee, a Bernardsville Public Library book group, will discuss this memoir on Tuesday, October 26th, at 10:30 a.m. The book group is open to new members and is facilitated by Pat Kennedy-Grant.  Please feel welcome to attend.