Holley, Emmet O'Neal
Kelly, Springville Road
Samuel, Central
Amanda, Emmet O'Neal
Jon, Avondale
Jason, Trussville
Leslie, Homewood
Our next meeting will be Wednesday, August 8th at 9am at the Emmet O'Neal Library and we will be discussing young adult fiction and/or nonfiction. Also, it's time to vote on next year's topics so let me know if there is a genre you'd like to put on the ballot at hwesley[at]bham[dot]lib[dot]al[dot]us or 445-1117.
Jeneration X: One Reluctant Adult's Attempt to Unarrest Her Arrested Development, or Why It's Never Too Late for Her Dumb Ass to Learn Why Fruit Loops are not for Dinner by Jen Lancaster
Bodies Left Behind by Jeffrey Deaver
Kelly, Springville Road
They Eat Puppies, Don't They by Christopher Buckley
“Byrd” McIntyre needs to sell Congress on an advanced weapons system, but Congress is not inclined to vote for it without an eminent threat to national security. To drum up public opposition to the Chinese, he
joins forces with Angel Templeton, a beautiful and ferocious conservative mouthpiece. When the greatly beloved Dalai Lama suddenly collapses, Byrd and Angel plant a rumor that the Chinese have attempted to
assassinate him. There are Lama-hating hard-liners on the Chinese Central Committee who wish to escalate hostilities, especially with Tibetan rebels who support the Dalai Lama. The moderate Chinese President, Fa Mengyao, is caught between the bad guys on the committee and avoiding conflict with the United States. Angel lambasts the Chinese on the airwaves and trades insults with their envoy. Public outrage grows,
and then it is discovered that the Dalai Lama is actually dying of a rare form of cancer. If China refuses to allow him to be buried in Tibet, it could start a civil war. If they permit him to enter the country, the
hard-liners will take over the Committee and that will be very bad for the United States. Buckley uses his insider perspective to skewer everyone—Left, Right and Middle. Though the issues aren’t funny, the book
is hilarious and will make readers suspect this is how things REALLY get done in Washington.
Kelly, Springville Road
GENERAL DISCUSSION: All Jen Lancaster books are hilarious if you are in to the sarcastic, irreverent, snarky humor of writers like Chelsea Handler or David Sedaris. Holley particularly enjoyed Lancaster's Pretty in Plaid: A Life, A Witch, and a Wardrobe, or the Wonder Years Before the Condescending, Egomaniacal, Self-Centered, Smart-Ass Phase in audiobook format.
Dead End Gene Pool by Wendy Burden
Ready Player One by Ernest Cline
Amanda, Emmet O'Neal
GENERAL DISCUSSION: The audiobook version of Ready Player One, narrated by Will Wheaton, is particularly good. Suitable for family trips, early teens and up. The paperback is now out, with a great book trailer:
Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson
The Hap & Leonard series by Joe R. Landsdale
also:
A Thin, Dark Line and The Bottoms by Joe R. Landsdale
The Repairman Jack series by F. Paul Wilson
John Dies at the End by David Wong (New title coming out: This Book is Full of Spiders)
Jason, Trussville
The Ritual by Adam Nevill
Four university friends go on an ill-fated camping trip in the Scandinavian wilderness of the Arctic Circle in this creepy, cold book. The friendships are wearing thin as food, cigarettes, and booze start to run out, the woods get thicker and more impenetrable, and they find the dead animal in the tree. Salvation seems at hand when the guys stumble across an old cabin in the woods, but once they are inside, things change. Old religious artifacts decorate the walls, dry bones litter the floor, and the most disturbing example of taxidermy I've ever read about reposes in an upstairs bedroom. They should have gone to Euro Disney instead. Check out the book and get ready for a gruesome thrill ride!
Holley, Emmet O'Neal
A Good and Useful Hurt by Aric Davis
This first novel by Davis has so many interesting facets, I hardly know where to begin. Tattoo artist and shop owner Mike has not been in a relationship since his girlfriend Sydney committed suicide in his bathroom several years before (where she still appears from time to time...Mike keeps the bathroom door closed, just in case). Enter the new body piercer, Deb. She's cute, sweet, mean, and every bit his match. Plus, she gets along with the other quirky characters at the tattoo shop. Also, there's a depraved serial rapist/murderer in the neighborhood. These character's lives start to connect when Mike gets the first request from a client for a very special tattoo. The client wants to be tattooed with a relative's cremated remains. As Mike and Deb's relationship gets stronger, the danger to them both gets closer. This novel is not for the faint of heart, the sensitive, or the easily offended. Strong language and graphic violence abound. Suggest to your fans of early Patricia Cornwell, Chelsea Cain, and other forensic fiction fans.
Holley, Emmet O'Neal
The Man of My Dreams (story anthology)
Daytime Drama by Dave Dembow
Tricks of the Trade by Ben Tyler
The Natural History of Unicorns by Chris Lavers
Color: by Victoria Fenley
Jewels: A Secret History by Victoria Fenley
Samuel, Central
GENERAL DISCUSSION: There are some truly fascinating books about color out there. Amy Butler's A Perfect Red: Empire, Espionage, and the Quest for the Color of Desire is about bugs and adventure and you'll never look at the color red the same way again. Christopher Moore's irreverent and hilarious book, Sacre Bleu: A Comedy of Art, takes a look, and a playful slap, at the color blue.
Maine by J. Courtney Sullivan
As three generations of Kelleher women arrive at the family's beach house, each brings her own hopes and fears. Maggie is thirty-two and pregnant, waiting for the perfect moment to tell her imperfect boyfriend the news; Ann Marie, a Kelleher by marriage, is channeling her domestic frustration into a dollhouse obsession and an ill-advised crush; Kathleen, the black sheep, never wanted to set foot in the cottage again; and Alice, the matriarch at the center of it all, would trade every floorboard for a chance to undo the events of one night, long ago.
Leslie, Homewood
The Night Strangers by Chris Bohjalian
In a dusty corner of a basement in a rambling Victorian house, a door
has long been sealed shut with 39 six-inch-long carriage bolts. The home's
new owners are Chip and Emily Linton and their twin ten-year-old daughters.
Together they hope to rebuild their lives there after Chip, an airline pilot,
has to ditch his 70-seat regional jet in Lake Champlain
after double engine failure. Unlike the Miracle on the Hudson, however, most of
the passengers aboard Flight 1611 die on impact or drown. The body count?
Thirty-nine – a coincidence not lost on Chip when he discovers the number of
bolts in that basement door. Meanwhile, Emily finds herself
wondering about the women in this sparsely populated village – self-proclaimed
herbalists – and their interest in her fifth-grade daughters. Are the women
mad? Or is it her husband, in the wake of the tragedy, whose grip on sanity has
become desperately tenuous? The result is a poignant and powerful ghost
story.
Leslie, Homewood
Titanic: The Last Night of a Small Town by John Welshman
In his famous book A
Night to Remember, Walter Lord described the sinking of the Titanic
as "the last night of a small town." Now, a hundred years after her
sinking, historian John Welshman reconstructs the fascinating individual
experiences of twelve of the inhabitants of this tragically short-lived
floating village. In Titanic, Welshman offers a
minute-by-minute account of the doomed liner's last hours, based on a
representative cross-section of those who sailed in her: men and women, old and
young, passengers and crew, wealthy and poor. The survivor accounts allow Welshman
to construct a graphic and compelling picture of events on a day-to-day and
hour-by-hour basis, providing vivid glimpses of the tragedy as seen from their
respective vantage points. In addition, Welshman tells the story of where these
twelve people were from and what happened to those who survived in the years
afterwards.
Leslie, Homewood
Both of Us: My Life with Farrah by Ryan O'Neal
Ryan O’Neal and Farrah Fawcett……one of the most storied love
affairs in Hollywood history, their romance has captivated fans and media alike
for more than three decades. Fans of
each other from afar, Ryan and Farrah met through her husband, Lee Majors, and
fell passionately in love. Soon, however, reality threatened their happiness
and they struggled with some serious matters, including the disintegration of
Farrah’s marriage; Ryan’s troubled relationship with his daughter, Tatum, and
son, Griffin; mismatched career trajectories; and raising their young son,
Redmond—all leading them to an inevitable split in 1997. Ryan fought to create a life on
his own but never stopped longing for Farrah. Eventually he realized that he
had lost his true soul mate. Older and wiser, he and Farrah found their way
back to each other and were excited to start a new life together. But their
bliss was cut short when Farrah was diagnosed with cancer and passed away just
three years later. Ryan’s
deep love for Farrah and his devotion to preserving her memory are evident in Both
of Us. Drawing on decades’ worth of personal records and keepsakes, he has
included never-before-seen photographs, letters exchanged between him and
Farrah, and his own diaries, making this a poignant and compelling memento for
her fans. Written with candor and emotional honesty, it is a true Hollywood love story.
Leslie, Homewood
After Camelot: An Intimate History of the Kennedy Family, 1968 to the Present by J. Randy Taraborrelli
For more than half a century, Americans have been captivated by
the Kennedys - their joy and heartbreak, tragedy and triumph, the dark side and
the remarkable achievements. In this ambitious and sweeping account,
Taraborelli chronicles the family history providing a behind-the-scenes look at
the years "after Camelot." He describes the challenges Bobby's
children faced as they grew into adulthood; Eunice and Sargent Shriver's
remarkable philanthropic work; the emotional turmoil Jackie faced after JFK's
murder and the complexities of her eventual marriage to Aristotle Onassis; the
the sudden death of JFK JR; and the stoicism and grace of his sister Caroline.
He also brings into clear focus the complex and intriguing story of Edward "Teddy"
and shows how he influenced the sensibilities of the next generation and
challenged them to uphold the Kennedy name. Based on extensive research,
including hundreds of exclusive interviews, After Camelot captures the
wealth, glamour, and fortitude for which the Kennedys are so well known.
Leslie, Homewood
GENERAL DISCUSSION: The conversation about the book on the Titanic reminded me of the excellent new novel by Charlotte Rogan, The Lifeboat. This debut novel is 22-year old Grace Winter's memories of what happened to her after the ship she and her new husband sailed on to escape the start of WWI sank, stranding her in the open ocean in an overcrowded lifeboat. She is now on trial for her life and her defense team has asked her to write down every single detail she can remember. Survivor turned against survivor, paranoia ran high, and the food and water didn't last. What would YOU do to survive?
Stuck Rubber Baby by Howard Cruse
Last Day in Vietnam by Will Eisner
Sam & Twitch: Book 1 by Todd McFarlane
In the Electric Mist with Confederate Dead by James Lee Burke
Wind Through the Keyhole by Stephen King
Night Season by Chelsea Cain
The Orphan Master's Son by Adam Johnson
The Harry Bosch series by Michael Connelly
The novels of Joseph Wambaugh
Silent Partner: the graphic novel by Jonathan Kellerman, Ande Parks, and Michael Gaydos
The novels of Tim Dorsey
Raylan by Elmore Leonard (adapted for tv on FX as the series, Justified, now in it's third season)
GENERAL DISCUSSION: Autobiographies came up in the discussion. Musicians carried the day.
Life by Keith Richards with James Fox
Clapton: The Autobiography by Eric Clapton
I, Me, Mine by George Harrison (Amanda notes that the format of this title is confusing and unfocused.)
Stories I Only Tell My Friends: An Autobiography by Rob Lowe
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