Historical fiction recommendations from Winter Reading participants

Congratulations to Week 5 winners, Stacy and Kelly, and Week 6 winners, Carrie and Jason. They each won a $20 gift card to either Target, Dunkin' Donuts, or Classic Cinemas. At the end of this week we will pull three names for our Week 7 winners. Next Saturday, March 5, is the last day to turn in Winter Reading entries. We will pull the grand prize winners from ALL the reading entries received during the course of the Winter Reading program. The grand prize teen and adult winners will each receive a $75 Target gift card. Keep your reading entries coming in -- participants have read 156 books in our Winter Reading program so far! Here are some books you may be interested in if you enjoy books set in the past:

	Alice's Tulips by Sandra Dallas Set during the Civil War, with a main character taking care of her family's Iowa farm while her husband is away at war. Rating: 4 out of 5 Find it in the catalog!
	The Boleyn Inheritance by Philippa Gregory Set during the reign of King Henry VIII, after the beheading of Anne Boleyn. Rating: 5 out of 5 Find it in the catalog!
	Little House in the Big Woods by Laura Ingalls Wilder Frontier and pioneer life on the Great Plains. Rating: 3 out of 5 Find it in the catalog!
	The Diary of Mattie Spenser by Sandra Dallas The just-married protagonist, Mattie Spenser, shares her story as she travels from Iowa to the Colorado Territories by Conestoga wagon to start a new life with her husband. Rating: 5 out of 5 Find it in the catalog!
	Shanghai Girls by Lisa See In the mid 1930s two sisters from Shanghai immigrate to Los Angeles in search of a better life. Rating: 5 out of 5 Find it in the catalog!
	Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden The story of Nitta Sayuri, sold to a geisha house at the age of 9 in 1929. Rating: 4 out of 5 Find it in the catalog!
	Little House on the Prairie by Laura Ingalls Wilder Frontier and pioneer life on the Great Plains Rating: 5 out of 5 Find it in the catalog!

Well, whadda you know!

Spotted this fabulous library ad on Boing Boing, originally published courtesy of the National Social Welfare Assembly. Ed is kind of a know-it-all, but he's got the right idea.

Recommended read: 127 Hours: Between a Rock and a Hard Place

What makes the human brain respond to death with reflection? I always figured people saw images of their family as a way of saying goodbye, but considering what the memories have done for me -- giving me a surge of positive energy, smiling, feeling happy -- I ruminate over an ulterior purpose. Perhaps the whole life's highlights reel thing is a survival instinct, something ingrained in our subconscious, the brain's final trick in the bag to continue its own existence. I imagine that once adrenaline has failed to engage a successful fight-or-flight impulse, the flash of memories acts as a secondary reflex, motivating us to keep fighting even when we don't think there's any fight left in us.
- Aron Ralston

Ralston tells his incredibly true story of being trapped by a boulder in Blue John Canyon in Utah from April 26-May 1, 2003, and how he eventually was able to escape by amputating his arm. With his right hand crushed between the canyon wall and the boulder, Ralston is not successful in his attempts to move the boulder to release his arm, and although he sees amputation as a possible solution, he initially pushes it to the back of his mind when he figures he does not have the proper tools for the procedure. Ralston has very little water and food and endures cold temperatures every night; he looks forward to the ten minutes of sunlight that reaches his location in the canyon each morning. He occasionally brings out his video camera, both to record the details of his situation and to say goodbye to his family and friends, remembering their good times together. At the time of his entrapment, Ralston was nearing the end of a five-day vacation from his job at an outdoor gear store in Aspen, Colorado, where he lived. Because Ralston himself was not sure about his exact itinerary, he left no information on his whereabouts for his roommates or friends when he left. He figures that by the time his friends or employer notice his absence and begin the search process, he will be dead.

Chapters alternate between Ralston's time stuck in the canyon and his other trips, both solo and with friends. Although the main draw of this book for me was reading about how he survived his entrapment, I became quite mesmerized by Ralston's writing style and his observations about nature and life, and found it just as interesting to read about his adventures through the years, including one time where he was stalked by a bear and another when he came close to drowning in the Colorado River.

This book was first published in 2004 (under the title Between a Rock and a Hard Place), but I hadn't read it until recently, after I saw the Danny Boyle-directed film 127 Hours starring James Franco, now nominated for 6 Oscars. I highly recommend you read this book, whether or not you've seen the movie. This is a very moving and inspirational account about a person finding the will to live when he already accepted the grim reality that he was at the cusp of death.


by Aron Ralston
In the News -- 796.5223 RAL
Find it in the catalog!

Staff recommendations from Winter Reading

Congratulations to Matthew, our winner for Week 3, and Celeste, our winner for Week 4. They each win a $20 gift card! Keep your entries coming in! The next three weeks we will be drawing multiple weekly winners! Participants in this year's Winter Reading have read 89 books so far. Check out some of the books library staff members have enjoyed during Winter Reading:

	The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins Find it in the catalog! Rating: 5 out of 5 "Very engrossing. Katniss is a strong, intelligent teenage character, and if the people behind the movie version mess up the casting for her I will be mad. Collins presents a future in which Panem, formerly North America, is composed of districts, and each year, to atone for uprising against the Capitol, each district must select two kids to participate in the Hunger Games, where they are required to fight each other to the death. The games are televised, and homes in all the districts tune in to root for their tributes. The manipulation of the tributes throughout the Games reminds me of reality TV in our culture. You will not be able to put this book down." --DP
	Dead to the World by Charlaine Harris Find it in the catalog! Rating: 5 out of 5 "I'm going through the Sookie Stackhouse series for the second time because I love how Charlaine Harris writes. This book contains one of my favorite plotlines from the series -- Eric loses his memory and stays with Sookie while she tries to keep him safe from the witches who are after him. His complete change of character is quite funny, as he is frightened and unsure of himself when Sookie finds him running along the side of the road. Plus Alcide returns, the witches arrive, and the mysterious, secluded community of Hotshot is introduced. I hope the writers of the TV series True Blood incorporate the plotlines from this book in the next season!" --DP
	Safe Haven by Nicholas Sparks Find it in the catalog! Rating: 4 out of 5 --GB A new woman in town keeps her past to herself and arouses suspicions of the townspeople. She eventually falls in love and then must face her past and decide between leaving or staying.
	House Rules by Jodi Picoult Find it in the catalog!  Rating: 4 out of 5 --GB In Picoult's latest, a teenager with Asberger's syndrome is on trial for murder.
	Almost French: Love and a New Life in Paris by Sarah Turnbull Find it in the catalog! Rating: 5 out of 5 "I enjoyed reading about the author's experiences living in Paris. As an Australian she talks about the differences between her culture and that of the French. She also shares her struggle to find work as a freelance journalist. Although she lives with a Frenchman, she still feels like an outsider and it is difficult for her to find her place in the city. Especially intriguing is what happens when she gets a dog and then becomes subject to all sorts of unsolicited advice and comments from passerbys. I had no idea how serious the French were about their dogs!" --DP
	Dracula in Love by Karen Essex Find it in the catalog! Rating: 5 out of 5 "Essex retells the story of Dracula from the female point of view, with Mina, not Dracula, being the focus of the story -- the character we know as Dracula doesn't appear until more than a quarter of the way through the book. I actually think the way the author tells the story is very refreshing and something I had never read before in regards to literature about vampires. The writing is dark and sensual in a way that I had not expected. Dracula in Love is also a good work of historical fiction set in Victorian England, and I recommend it to readers who enjoy books set in that era. Just don't call it a "vampire book."--DP

Book Lust to Go

Book Lust to Go: Recommended Reading for Travelers, Vagabonds, and Dreamers
by Nancy Pearl
011.6 PEA
Find it in the catalog!

If you enjoy reading books set in far off countries and are wondering what to check out next, Book Lust to Go is a great guide. Nancy Pearl, Library Journal's Librarian of the Year, has compiled a detailed list of books dealing with travel from A to Z -- from "A is for Adventure" to "Zipping Through Zimbabwe." The types of books she includes are diverse as well. In addition to fiction and mysteries Pearl recommends armchair travel books, biographies, and history books. And if you're not necessarily looking to read about a specific place, you may find titles that are appealing in the chapters "See the Sea," "Making Tracks by Train," "Row, Row, Row Your Boat," or "Comics with a Sense of Place," just to name a few are Pearl's fun travel-themed categories. At the front of Book Lust to Go, in addition to the Contents page, is a Geographical Index. Pick your spot on the map and you'll see a line pointing to the page number for that chapter! This is a wonderful resource and I found the suggestions very helpful. After paging through chapters covering settings such as Malaysia, Japan, and Scotland, I found so many intriguing titles that I did not know which one to start reading first!